Diametrically Opposed
by mony2208
Summary: Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter & up until fifth year James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can’t seem to get her out of his mind
1. Midnight homework and new realisations

**Title:** Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Spoilers: **Written before Ootp, HBP and DH, but contains some spoilers.

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

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**Diametrically Opposed **

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**Chapter One**

_Midnight homework and new realisations_

_.._

It was with a weary heart that Lily Evans, a fifth year Gryffindor prefect, dragged herself into the Astronomy tower. Night had fallen hours before as had curfew, but there was unfortunately an assignment due the very next day that she'd yet to start. For her, it was extremely unusual to not have her work finished a week before the due date, but the assignment was for Astronomy, one of her less favourable subjects. It was also one of her weakest, although she never liked to admit it. She'd just never been able to understand the importance of plotting all the trillions of stars in the sky, especially when it was coupled with Divination … And it was an understatement to say that Lily detested that class.

Lily grumbled to herself as she set about preparing her charts.

"Evans, what are you doing here?"

The voice unexpectedly brought her out of her sombre mood and she spun around. She gave a small smile in return to the person standing in the doorway, but wrinkled her nose when she gestured to her charts.

"I have to finish my charts by tomorrow. What are you doing here, Sirius? Surely _you_ don't have to do any astronomy work tonight."

Sirius Black laughed. It was a known fact that Sirius was a natural at astronomy; his name was the first and most obvious clue. He grinned ruefully, raising a hand to casually point up at the sky.

"Just wanted to see my namesake," he joked, walking over to her and lowering himself to sit down beside her mass of charts. "Need some help?"

Lily was very close to declining his invitation. Truth be told they weren't really friends, and she never accepted help from anyone. But after glimpsing at her messy charts and the genuine look of sincerity on his face, which was unusual to say the least, she sighed and reluctantly accepted.

"Alright thanks, you've _no_ idea how much I hate astronomy."

Sirius laughed again, his eyes twinkling before replying slyly, "Oh I think I have a slight idea. Remember I was there to witness your attempt to throw your telescope out the window last year."

Lily inwardly cringed, but couldn't help but smile fondly as a vision of Sionell Prewitt - one of her closest friends - grabbing the telescope from her hands, flashed past in her mind.

"It was lucky that Sionell was there to snatch it from my hands, otherwise there would have been one less telescope for astronomy," admitted Lily. "Although I wouldn't have cared much."

"This is a different Lily Evans than the one I know," Sirius noted, sneaking a glance to look at Lily.

Lily sighed. "Yeah well, I just don't like astronomy. I just can't for the life of me know where anything is up – there," she complained, jerking her arm up to point exasperatedly at the sky.

Sirius was thoughtful for a moment, looking at the charts before answering.

"Well, you seem to know all the names of stars and planets. What you have to do is formulate a plan. I cheat a little. See where my star is?" he asked, pointing again.

Lily nodded.

"Well I usually just-"

* * *

They spent the next two hours writing the chart, until Lily finally finished with locating the last star.

"There," said a much relieved Lily. She turned to Sirius smiling gratefully, and then thanked him profusely. "I don't know what I would have done without your help, Sirius."

"Probably busy throwing all the available telescopes out the window," Sirius smoothly responded, slowly standing up. He offered a hand to Lily, but she was too busy playfully glaring at him.

"And here I thought the Marauder in you had disappeared tonight," she huffed, referring to the name Sirius and his three friends, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew had been branded with over the years at Hogwarts: The Marauders. They'd definitely lived up to their name, Lily thought wryly. Marauding was what they did best; their pranks and outrageous exploits were infamous amongst all the students. Not even the teachers knew every prank or stunt they'd been behind.

Sirius shook his head, grinning evilly. "Nah, don't worry, the Marauder's forever in me, and I can guarantee that you will _never_ run out of reasons to use your prefect privileges on any of us."

Lily narrowed her eyes, and brushed off the dust from her skirt as she rose from the ground.

"Talking about the Marauders, where are the rest of your troublemaking group? I thought you and Potter were practically attached at the hip," she asked suspiciously, for an unpleasant thought of Potter wreaking havoc whilst Sirius distracted her popped into her mind.

"Hey don't look at me," insisted Sirius, raising his hands over his head in a gesture of surrender. "I haven't done anything."

"Right." Lily clearly didn't believe Sirius, but didn't let on as she gathered her belongings. "Well, I'll leave you to your marauding then, because I am going to bed. Thanks again for your help."

Sirius dismissed it with a wave.

"No problem, but maybe in the future you can do something for me?" he asked suggestively, wagging his eyebrows at her. He was answered by the slam of the astronomy tower door and a loud laugh as she walked down the corridor.

"Sure Sirius, in your dreams," Lily muttered under her breath, not knowing whether to be half-flattered or half-insulted at his attitude. "Flirt."

She cursed the Marauders under her breath as she remembered some of the pranks that they had all pulled in the last five years.

James Potter was the undisputed leader of the Marauders, and was also a fellow fifth year Gryffindor prefect like herself. His ruggedly handsome good looks earned him a place amongst the most popular students in Hogwarts and on the most wanted list by the vast majority of girls as well. Some wagered that it was his messy raven black hair that attracted the girls; others thought it was his trademark grin and his warm hazel eyes. Even the fact he wore glasses was seen as an indication of his overpowering intelligence, but Lily always personally thought it was just his blatant disrespect for all the rules that attracted everybody's attention, the same with Sirius.

Sirius Black was James Potter's best friend and had been ever since they were young. Both being pureblood wizards, they had met up at a party when they were only children and though their parents moved in different circles - an understatement- they had hit it off almost instantaneously. Sirius was alike James in many ways. Same height, same colour hair, and the same rule-breaking tendencies that separated them from the rest of the school. He was also just as popular as James. However Sirius wasn't a prefect, not to mention he was a much bigger flirt and immensely enjoyed the attention of the female population at Hogwarts. His eyes were also grey instead of brown, and his shaggy hair was a bit longer and much, much tamer than James.

If James was the tall, dark, handsome one and Sirius was the mischievous and flirty one, then Remus Lupin had to be the practical one. Remus always had an aura around him that nobody would dare mess with. He wasn't a prefect either, but only because of his continuous absences from school. Remus had light brown hair, with natural streaks of silver, and he had the most soulful blue eyes. He was quite different from Sirius and James in another respect as he also studied hard for his good grades. Lily often caught him reading an advanced Defence against the Dark arts textbook by the fireplace in the common room.

Out of the four Marauders, Lily liked and knew Remus the best. He was more quiet, and understanding. However, that isn't to say that he didn't fit in with the Marauders. Although less discreet than Sirius, he was often the mastermind behind the pranks that were planned out.

Lily shifted her thoughts to focus on the last member of the Marauders: Peter Pettigrew. Lily often wondered how Peter managed to fit in with the rest of them. Whilst James, Sirius and Remus were tall, Peter was short, and whilst James, Sirius and Remus were at the top of most of their classes, Peter was closer to the bottom. His beady eyes, and light blonde hair gave him the appearance of a small, wounded animal, and as Lily thought further, she realised that was how the other guys treated him. Sure they made fun of him, but they were also fiercely protective of him, and made sure to include him in most of their pranks. It was a nice gesture Lily had to admit as no one else had tried to befriend him when they had first started at Hogwarts.

Thinking about Sirius and the way that he helped out tonight, Lily realised he had proved her theory about the Marauders to be slightly flawed. He was in actual fact, rather smart, contradicting her thoughts that it was his looks and charm that got him everywhere. He was also more sensitive, and rather funny once she got past his that dirty mind.

Lily laughed aloud as she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and gave the latest password 'Porskoff', no doubt one of James' creations. Tipping her head in greeting at some remaining Gryffindors, she brought her mind back to James.

In truth, Lily couldn't stand the Marauders mainly because of James Potter, and it was more than often that she referred to him by his last name. For some reason - actually to be more specific it was one past experience in first year - they had never hit it off, and Lily wasn't the least bit regretful for it. Personally, she thought he was too big-headed and cocky for her, and his grades were always achieved without any real, hard work, something she had always resented.

Lily sighed, and walked up the stairs to the 5th years dormitory. As she walked into her room, she was greeted by her two best friends, Arabella Figg and Sionell Prewitt.

"Where were you?" asked the always blunt Bella as she looked up from her bed.

Arabella Figg, or Bella, to put it simply was not shy. She had to be the most outrageous and outspoken girl in their year, and was on a first name basis with practically everyone. Her shoulder length black hair and dark brown eyes completely contradicted her sunny disposition and cheery attitudes that she displayed every day of the week. She was known as a player among the guys as she switched boyfriends every week, but still no one could resist her charms. She contrasted sharply to Lily's shy and gentle personality, and it was surprising that they even had anything in common. Where Bella was loud and boisterous, Lily was quiet and kept to herself. Lily was top of the class and studied all the time, whereas Bella tended to just do everything at the last minute. Most of the time, Bella treated Lily like a younger sister, and protected Lily from anyone (mostly the Slytherins') or anything which dared to hurt her.

Lily smiled affectionately at the sight of Bella, and dumped her things on her bedside table.

"Astronomy," Lily replied simply. Bella laughed, but was silenced by a pillow coming from Sionell's direction.

"So … are you done already?" Sionell interrupted, always the peacemaker between the two.

Sionell was slightly less outgoing than Bella, and she often came across to people as being more girly and in touch with her feminine side (as Bella loved to say). This was because in actual fact she looked it. She had short blonde hair, blue eyes, and a body to die for. However she was far from that as she was a diehard Quidditch fanatic (being a chaser on the Gryffindor house team), but nonetheless she enjoyed the extra attention that boys seemed to throw her way and just seemed to lap it up with flair. Like Lily, Sionell also cared about her studies, so whilst Arabella would be playing with the other Gryffindors or planning pranks, Sionell and Lily would spend their time together talking and finishing homework. Sionell was more sensitive than Arabella, and Lily found that no matter how hard things were in their lives, Sionell was always there for her, whether it was to make her laugh by playing pranks on people or just to sit and comfort her.

Lily looked up to smile sheepishly at the two curious girls as she replied, "Yeah … I had some help though."

This got Bella's full attention and her eyes lit up.

"Who helped you and why did you let them?" she demanded.

"The only person who can say that they are a star in the sky." Lily answered cryptically, choosing not to bother with the last part of the question.

"Sirius then?" guessed Sionell, after noticing that Bella was still processing what Lily had said. ("Ah, I get it now.")

"Yeah, it was weird," Lily stopped to brush her hair before continuing on. "He wasn't acting as …"

"Blonde?" Bella supplied, which landed her another pillow fiercely thrown in her direction. "Ow! Nell!"

"In case you haven't noticed these past _five_ years I'm blonde, Miss Arabella Figg," Sionell tartly replied.

"You know I didn't mean you, it was just an automatic response, sorry," Bella apologised, then turned back to Lily. "Anyway, Lil continue on, I'm waiting for the sordid part to start. Oww!"

This time it was a brush that hit Bella and it wasn't from Sionell.

"No sordid parts Bella, I just needed help that's all, and he offered," Lily stated firmly, turning around as she was unable to brush her hair any longer - for obvious reasons. Bella reluctantly nodded, but gave an impish smile.

"Yeah, we all know how hopeless _you_ are in astronomy."

"It's not Lily's fault that she isn't taken by astronomy," reprimanded Sionell, glaring at Bella whose eyes had taken on a mischievous look.

"Oh I don't doubt her inability for astronomy," Bella returned smoothly. "I'm just remembering how violent she can get in those lessons. Last week I caught her glaring at her charts homework as if she was contemplating to murder it or something. Not to mention the whole telescope incident last year," Bella teased.

Lily did the only mature thing she could think of in the spur of the moment. She poked her tongue out at Bella. Bella laughed as she rolled onto her stomach.

"That's real beautiful Lil. I'm sure most of the guys would die to see this side of Lily Evans."

Lily quickly retracted her tongue and tried to ignore the blush creeping up her cheeks.

In most people's eyes, Lily was considered to be the most beautiful of the three, what with her wavy, long, dark red hair, and her sparkling emerald eyes. She had an unconscious grace about her that no one could compare to and most people admired and liked her. However, Lily always brushed aside these comments when her friends repeated them and would merely add that she was no beauty compared to them. Truth be told, she felt like that deep inside (from past experiences), and no one could convince her otherwise.

As a result, she was the more studious of the two and most nights could be found studying in the library or simply just reading a book next to the fire in the Gryffindor common room. Although she was Muggle-born unlike Bella and Sionell, who were purebloods, she was at the top of most of her classes, and at the start of her fifth year at Hogwarts, she had been chosen as a school prefect, a very high honour for her.

"Oh stop it, Bella," Lily admonished playfully, swiftly changing into her pyjamas.

Sionell propped herself up on her elbows to look meaningfully at Lily.

"Honestly, don't you notice how the guys look at you?" asked Sionell, incredulously.

Lily shook her head in disbelief before answering cheekily, "No, usually I notice they're too busy staring at you two beauties."

Before Bella could speak up, which Lily could see she was about to do, Lily quickly switched off her light, and climbed into bed.

"And if you two want to be beautiful for tomorrow, you better get some beauty sleep. Night."

Bella mumbled a grumpy goodnight before lying back into bed.

"You're hopeless Lil," Sionell supplied for Bella, who was still mumbling incoherently in bed. They didn't receive an answer and they sighed, eventually proceeding to fall asleep as well.

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_**A/N: This chapter has been redone slightly to follow some events in the books following the GoF. Of course, there are still many differences, including keeping James as a prefect. And there IS a specific reason for that as future chapters in my story depend on him being a prefect! I'm also not changing Arabella Figg. Yes I know she's a squib, yes I know she's old, but I've been writing her since BEFORE OotP, so I'm not perfect!**_ _**Just pretend that the Figg living in Harry's street is her crazy squib of an Aunt!**_

_**So please do not feel anyone has to tell me about these things as I have also read OotP, HBP & DH, and am aware of the differences with that and my story.**_

_**Thanks!**_


	2. Pranks and paybacks a coming!

**Title:** Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. – The only characters belonging to me are Sionell Prewitt, and any other pitiful original characters I have yet to write.

**Author's Notes: **Nothing need be said other than: on with the story!

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**Diametrically Opposed**

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**Chapter Two**

_Pranks and payback a coming!_

A couple of weeks passed without incident between the Marauders and Lily, because of Sirius's help in her astronomy homework, which she surprisingly received an A for. For her part, she kept her conversations with them civil, choosing to ignore their outrageous pranks that were popping up every so often, instead of taking away points or handing out detentions. It wasn't until the Hogsmeade weekend that things took a turn for the worse.

Lily hadn't planned on going to Hogsmeade that weekend, but her friends - more specifically Bella - had managed to rope her into going with them. So, it was near noon and Lily was found sitting in the Three Broomsticks, sipping a butterbeer and listening to Arabella talking about her latest conquest Amos Diggory.

"You wouldn't believe how arrogant he is about his Quidditch." Bella was saying. "I swear if he had mentioned Quidditch one more time, I was going to ram that damn snitch up his-"

Lily choked on her drink and cut Bella off before she could continue. "Bella!" she exclaimed, horrified at the very thought of something like that happening. It left horrific images in her mind.

Bella laughed, and patted her arm reassuringly. "Don't worry, he didn't, I think he got the picture."

Sionell snorted in an unladylike manner.

"It would have been the only way for him to actually catch the snitch though." Sionell said unexpectedly. Lily, who had just taken a sip of her drink, choked again and Arabella had to thump Lily on the back between her laughter.

After finally catching her breath, Lily glanced up through watery eyes to stare accusingly at the two girls in front of her, who were sporting very innocent expressions.

"_This_ is why I didn't want to come today," said Lily, irritably, although she couldn't help but smile.

Bella laughed, "We got a smile out of you though, which is something that you need. All you seem to be doing lately is work."

Lily sighed. "I know, I just want to do well …"

She was interrupted by an irate Bella.

"Well? You're_ already_ doing bloody brilliant. You don't need to do any better."

"Alright, I'm sorry, I promise I'll work less." promised Lily, finally able to successfully drink the remains of her butterbeer.

Arabella seemed satisfied by Lily's response, and leant back in her chair with a grunt.

"Fine, that will do for now."

Sionell let out a sigh of relief, and was about to say something, before three shadows appeared over her shoulder.

Lily frowned slightly, but politely acknowledged three of the Marauders presence.

"Good afternoon, may I ask what you are doing here?"

James chose to answer for them all, by swiftly sliding in to sit beside Lily.

"Just thought we could spend some time with our fellow 5th year Gryffindor girls." he said charmingly, flashing them a grin. The girls weren't impressed as they each shared the same dislike for James that Lily did, but they nonetheless allowed the other two boys to sit next to them.

Sionell raised an eyebrow as she noticed the absence of Sirius. "Where is your sidekick, Potter?"

"Right behind you, my fair lady."

Sionell jumped at the voice behind her and turned around to narrow her eyes at Sirius, who was carrying a tray of butterbeers.

"Don't kill me, I have a peace offering." he objected, carefully placing the tray onto the table and handing everyone another drink.

After looking suspiciously at the butterbeer in front of her, and weighing her previous luck with the drink today, Lily decided to push the drink away.

"No thanks, I've had enough today." she declined.

James raised an eyebrow, and pushed the drink back to her.

"Come on, it's just a butterbeer, surely your pride can accept something." he protested.

"Since when do you care?" retorted Lily, and the others inwardly groaned. Once again, the two had found something to argue about. It was one of the reasons the two groups hardly ever conversed with one another.

"We're just trying to be nice."

"How do I know you haven't done something to this drink?" Lily continued on, pointing towards her drink as if it was something poisonous.

James followed her direction and smiled.

"Look, I promise you that we have done nothing to that drink." he said, guessing Lily's thoughts correctly and comically pointing at the mug.

Lily crossed her arms over her chest, but her face softened slightly.

"Fine, why don't you have my drink then if you're so stubborn." James offered, swapping his drink for hers.

They all waited for a reaction, and Lily finally relented.

"Alright, thank you Potter - I mean James." she hastily added, picking up the mug and taking a small sip.

Almost immediately, a weird sensation went down her throat and Lily knew that something was up. She couldn't help but gasp aloud and the boys cracked up laughing, Remus though was noticeably subdued. Lily desperately turned to her friends for help, who were looking less than amused.

"What on earth have you done to her?" Bella demanded furiously, grabbing James by the collar of his robes.

"What?" Lily tried to say, but all that would come out was a distinct and loud meow.

This didn't help her situation as the boys started laughing even harder, and soon enough they had the attention of the whole place. Everybody except Lily, Bella and Sionell were laughing, and by then Sionell had reluctantly handed over a pocket mirror.

Lily shrieked ("Meoow!") at her appearance. The only familiar part of her face she could recognise was her green eyes; everything else had been transformed into a … cat's face!

"Thought you might want another pet cat for your Auntie's collection, Figg." James finally managed to wheeze, before tears began to roll down his face.

Not wanting to or able to say anything without needing translation, Lily abruptly stood up from her seat and fiercely pushed James onto the ground so she could walk away. Tears were pricking the corner of her eyes and it was taking all of her strength to hold them back as she ran out of the Three Broomsticks and up to Hogwarts, without her friends.

The worst part was definitely the trip back; everyone would stop and laugh at her as she came running past, a tail that had appeared - along with the fur and whiskers - flying behind her with the breeze.

It seemed like hours before she finally made it to the doors at Hogwarts, and if possible even longer to reach the hospital wing. By then, she had managed to keep her tears at bay, and all that remained on her face was a determined expression.

Potter and his goons would get their payback and soon was all that flew across her mind as Madam Pomfrey fussed over her 'state'.

* * *

Lily was released from the hospital wing a week later and needless to say, she was less than pleased at missing so many classes. 

So it was that very night after her release that Lily was brooding in her dorm with Bella and Sionell. The event still hadn't left the minds of many Gryffindors so it had been an easy decision to spend her free time away from their jibes and laughs.

Whilst Arabella and Sionell were playing a game of exploding snap, Lily was lying flat on her back beside them, staring up at the ceiling. She stood up suddenly, throwing Arabella and Sionell off balance.

"I've got it!" she exclaimed excitedly. Bella and Sionell shared a look before Arabella spoke up.

"What is it this time?"

Lily fumbled with her hands as she unsuccessfully fought to hold back a maniacal grin.

"We stoop down to their level, and play the most memorable and spectacular prank that Hogwarts has ever seen!" she replied.

Sionell buried her head in her hands, smiling ruefully and replied, "Oh no, Lily Evans prank extraordinaire has finally submerged, and is on the rampage." She put on a deep commentator type voice before adding, "It's going to be bad when the smartest witch at Hogwarts uses her power for pranks and not schoolwork."

Lily chose to ignore the comment and paced up and down the dorm, madly trying to think of a suitable prank that would make James fall to his knees begging for mercy.

"Any more pacing and you're going to fall down to the next floor." Arabella commented impatiently, breaking into Lily's thoughts. "Let me guess, right now you're at the stage where you're murdering Potter?"

Lily shook her head and chuckled. "No, even better … _Begging_." she replied smirking.

Sionell tutted disapprovingly. "Since when have you been the irrational one in the group?" she asked.

Lily glanced up as if it was obvious. "Since Potter has humiliated me and insulted me in every way possible. I will not tolerate it any longer," she announced, before wryly adding, "Besides, I don't appreciate the fact of having a tail and fur for the past week."

Sionell giggled, but then stopped as a pillow was suddenly thrown in her direction.

"Alright, sorry it's funny now that you think about it." she protested, wiping away a fake tear.

Bella snorted impatiently, but then turned to Lily. "Well out with it already. What's the plan?"

Lily smiled deviously as a plan began to form in her mind.

"Ladies, it starts with their beds …" she began softly, leaning in so that only the girls would be able to hear.

* * *

Lily crept up quietly to the boy's 6th year dorms, Bella and Sionell closely behind;armed only with their wands. They had comically smeared black paint over their faces ("muggle camouflage" Lily had explained rationally – to which Arabella had grumpily replied, "I think you've just gone barmy."), leaving only their slipper-clad feet untouched. 

It was past midnight and for once nobody was up and about. Of course, this was mainly because the girls had planted a dozen dungbombs in the common room an hour earlier.

Bella chuckled as she remembered how the Marauders had been accused of doing it and had been chased up to their dorm by Professor McGonagall. She had had the unfortunate timing of walking in just as one of the dungbombs exploded over her head.

Lily spun around and placed a finger to her lips.

"Shhh." she scolded sternly, and she would have pulled it off if she hadn't been grinning maniacally, the same grin that had been planted on there since the night before.

Arabella threw both hands in the air in mock surrender.

"Sorry." whispered Arabella, conjuring a white flag from the tip of her wand and waving it fruitlessly in the air. Sionell fought back a snort, and even Lily couldn't contain a chuckle.

Finally taking control of herself, Lily straightened up and whacked Bella on the upside of the head.

"Ow." Bella protested indignantly, rubbing her head.

"Jokes later, but right now we have a prank to pull." she stated in a business-like tone, pointing her wand to the door and whispering "_Alohomora_."

Bella mock saluted and Sionell giggled again, earning herself a disapproving glare from Lily.

Lily sighed inwardly, there was no hope of Bella acting serious in this kind of situation. Naturally, it was quite serious for Lily; it was all a matter of principle and there was no way that she would stand around watching Potter upstage her in everything.

He would pay.

Opening the door slowly and cautiously, they finally all entered into the boys' dorm, only to be met by a chorus of snores.

This time it was Lily's turn to giggle as she caught sight of James' sleeping attire.

"We won't even need to cast any clothing charms on them, by the looks of it." she whispered in glee, as she walked closer to James' bed.

"Although, it wouldn't hurt to add a few things …" she added slowly, another ingenious idea creeping into her head.

Muttering a few charms, Lily and the other girls quietly charmed the boys pyjamas to sport _different_ looks.

Arabella grinned wickedly as she conjured a teddy bear and some matching teddy bear boxers for Sirius. Sionell had a similar look as she changed the pattern of Peter's blue pyjamas to little red hearts and added a cute little Santa-like pom pom hat to his head.

Remus had been previously declared not to be involved in the prank. Partly because he wasn't at fault, and in Lily's opinion - which she had supplied to Bella - partly because Bella had a crush on him. (This had later resulted in an all out pillow war and Lily almost being smothered to death).

Lily's creation for James definitely topped them all though. Somehow, Lily managed to make her pattern move, quite like wizard photos do. But that wasn't the best part. The actual pattern consisted of figures of actual witches residing at Hogwarts who James had snogged …in rather bizarre looking outfits.

Suffice to say, there were quite a few witches present (who weren't on the girls' good sides) on his boxers, which pleased Lily to some extent.

Speaking of seeing them, Lily whacked her forehead with the palm of her hand and cursed her stupidity. Bella turned to look quizzically at Lily before Lily finally cast a sleeping charm on the four boys.

"I can't believe I didn't do that sooner." said Lily, whispering no longer but keeping her voice down nonetheless.

Bella nodded in understanding, amusement evident in her voice as she replied, "Me too …"

Sionell let out a loud breath, and started to laugh uncontrollably, her words hardly decipherable between the laughter.

"You … funny … flag … couldn't stop … he he." Sionell clutched her stomach, falling to the ground, and it wasn't long before both Lily and Bella joined her.

Bella was the first one to recover this time. Her voice was strained as she fought back the bubble of laughter threatening to emerge again.

"Time to proceed with Part 2 of the prank." she finally managed to gasp, grabbing Lily's wrist to glimpse at her watch.

"We're running on schedule." Lily noted with satisfaction, looking down too.

Sionell grunted in reply.

"I think I've got a stomach ache." she complained, her knees protesting as she picked herself up from the ground in a very un-lady-like manner.

The sides of Lily's mouth twitched upwards, as she mock frowned.

"You young people these days, always getting yourself into trouble" she reprimanded, wagging her finger at Sionell, and imitating Madam Pomfrey's voice.

Bella let out a snort, bringing Lily back to reality.

"Alright, sorry." Lily cleared her throat. "Wands at the ready then girls?" she observed. Bella and Sionell nodded in reply.

"Ok, then, activate part 2 of operation BFM … _Beg For Mercy _… Honestly!" she exclaimed, as she saw the blank looks that Bella and Sionell threw at her.

Lily pointedly ignored their cheesy grins and pointed her wand once more at James bed, except this time it was also pointed at his bed …

* * *

The next morning, the three girls purposely woke up earlier than usual to view the result of their prank down in the Great Hall. Granted their eyes were still half-closed and they were yawning non-stop, but nonetheless they were eager. 

"Oh this is going to be so good!" Lily exclaimed, attempting to jump in excitement, but failing miserably as she tripped over her shoes.

Bella sleepily grunted and nudged Sionell, who had fallen asleep on her shoulder as they walked.

"Haven't seen her this excited since they invented those frog-spawn teacups!" she remarked.

Lily sighed as her mind recalled the incident where Petunia had begun to drink from a tea-cup, only for it to change into frog-spawn. Priceless. Those were the days where she had enjoyed flaunting her magical ties at home, instead of nowadays where it was necessary to hide them from her sister.

"Ow!" Lily cried. She rubbed her head and glared at the doors that she had collided with. Without realising it, the three girls had already made it to the Great Hall doors. Sharing a sly look, they entered the Hall together.

The sight that greeted them first wasn't anything unusual. People were starting to come in for breakfast, conversing with friends, and what not. The only difference in the large room was the addition of three rather unusual objects in the aisles of the House tables, and a caution sign pointing towards each of them.

Up close, each of the objects looked like miniature beds; each with a little doll that were quite similar to the muggle barbie and ken dolls. The only difference was that they were snoring and quite alive.

Waiting for the majority of the school to arrive, Lily, Arabella and Sionell finally pointed their wands discreetly over to the beds and muttered the counter curse to the shrinking charm.

Simultaneously three beds sprung to their original size and it now became apparent to the school exactly who occupied these beds. Snoring loudly were three of the infamous Marauders; James, Sirius and Peter.

The whole school erupted into laughter, but as the Marauders were still under the effect of the sleeping charm, Lily decided to give them a hand at waking up. Still concealing her wand under the table, she cleverly managed to levitate three cups of water and simultaneously pour them over each of the three boys.

Spluttering, the three boys shot up in their beds, struggling wildly with their sheets. Sirius may have sprouted out one rude curse.

Unluckily for them, it hadn't yet hit the boys where they were.

James thought the laughing in his head was from a pounding headache until he managed to free himself from the sheets and roll onto his side.

"Ahhhhhh!" he screamed as he caught sight of all the students hysterically laughing and pointing to him.

After hearing the scream, Sirius jumped out of bed, and accidentally onto the Slytherin table, the teddy bear still glued to his arms. Peter followed suit, with the little red pom pom hat on his head.

If it was possible the laughter became even louder, and pretty much the whole school were crying.

But the best was yet to come, and Lily personally couldn't wait. She watched in anticipation as James sprung out of his bed.

To her surprise, the Hall grew silent as James' full attire came into view. James looked on helplessly, until he followed everyone's gaze down to his shorts.

… Then the Hall roared with laughter again. Lily was almost hyperventilating from laughing so much, and she thought it was even remotely possible that she had managed to break a rib.

It was definitely worth the look on James' face as he turned red with embarrassment … and the stunned looks on all the girls who had appeared on his boxers.

But what was really priceless was the look on McGonagall's face. Steam was practically coming out of her nose and her lips had never been pursed tighter than that moment.

"POTTER. BLACK. PETTIGREW" McGonagall screeched hysterically. With an angry jerk, she pulled out her wand from her robe and transfigured the beds back into a miniature size, small enough for the boys to carry them back up to their dorms.

Even under pressure, James managed a weak, innocent smile.

"Yes, Professor?"

McGonagall was at a loss for words. "You three … never have I seen … get out NOW!"

The boys sheepishly nodded and silently walked out. But it wasn't before James caught the smug look on Lily's face. He silently fumed and glared fiercely at her, but she seemed unaffected, merely shrugging back before mouthing a smug 'nice boxers'.

A sudden thought came to him that Lily was behind this, but the absurdity of Evans pulling a prank was just that, absurd, so he diverted his attention over to the Slytherins as he walked out. One of those slimy gits had managed to prank them … and they would not get away it. Imagine people thinking they could successfully prank the _Marauder's _and not expect something in return for Merlin's sake.

After they left, Lily turned back and let out a contented sigh.

A wide grin still on her face, Arabella went to speak, but Lily put up her hand.

"Don't. say. Anything." she smiled wistfully. "I'm never going to forget that moment as long as I live … the Marauders … uncovered."

Sionell let out a shrill giggle as Lily stood up with a dazed expression.

"I think I need to take a walk. I'm not hungry anymore."

Arabella voiced her concern. "Lily, you really should eat."

Lily shook her head in reply. "I'm fine … I'll see you guys later, all right?"

Without a reply, Lily sauntered out of the Hall, only to be greeted by a confused Remus.

"Lily, what the hell happened?" he blurted out, "I woke up to find out that I'm the only guy in the dorm, not to mention bed. And then on the way down here, I meet the guys clad in nothing but boxers … _Lily_?"

Lily couldn't reply; she was too busy laughing again. All she could do was point towards Bella and Sionell and say breathlessly, "Ask … them." before stumbling out of the Great Hall.

Lily felt oddly content as she walked out to the Great Lake. At that moment, she felt on cloud nine. Never again could Potter intimidate her to the point of hysteria. She could give just as good as she got and there was no way possible he would be able to forget this moment.

How right she was.

It wasn't until Lily had completed a circle around the lake that someone came up to meet her. To her dismay it was a very, very fuming - and fully clad - James Potter who strode over to her.

Lily decided to play it cool and tried to shove past him. No such luck. James roughly grabbed her arm and spun her around.

"Thought that was funny, did you?" snarled James, the intensity of his voice more noticeable than ever.

Lily flinched and tried to wrench her arm away from him.

"What's funny?" she asked innocently. "Your boxers, or the girls you have chosen to go with?"

James let out a growl before gruffly answering, "Don't patronise me Evans. I don't appreciate being laughed at."

Lily shrugged. "Tough, it happens to everyone." she replied indifferently, finally pulling herself away from him as he loosened his grip. "Don't see why you should be so vexed at me, anyway. I wasn't the _only_ one laughing at you."

James snorted angrily. "You're not worth it Evans … you really aren't." he hissed, physically shoving her away from him as he stalked back to the Great Hall.

Lily rubbed her arm, glaring at James' back. Oh, how she wished right now that she could just strangle him. He was supposed to be begging for mercy, not act like this.

She sighed as she looked at the time. Class would be starting soon and she didn't even have her bag yet.

* * *

**_Re-edited on 7th March, 2006. Still not OotP or HBP compliant._**


	3. A neverending bad day for Lily

**Title:** Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Forewords:** Wow! Thanks so much to all the people that have reviewed my two chapters. You don't know how proud I felt to click onto my story and realise somebody other than myself had actually read it!

There are only a couple of other things that Iwanted to say. One, I didn't really state when the story starts, but from the summary I'm sure you've guessed it's set in 5th year. And two, I flicked through Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone and I realised that the teacups never changed into frogspawn, they changed into rats, but I think I'll just keep it that way anyway. Frogspawn sounds better than rats in my opinion, he he.

* * *

**Diametrically Opposed**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

_A never-ending bad day for Lily_

Although the events of that morning were more than hilarious for Lily Evans, the rest of the day wasn't. Double potions had been first, and Potter and Black decided it would be _funny_ to _accidentally_ crash into her potion. It had resulted in it crashing to the ground, and a detention for her - the first one she had ever had as a prefect at Hogwarts. She was to report to Professor Resten - the Potions mistress and all time Slytherin supporter - in two nights time to collect armadillo bile.

This little incident caused Lily to discard her previous thoughts on Sirius and things reverted back to its original place; Lily hating _ALL_ the Marauders with a passion, and vice versa. Well maybe except Remus, as he hadn't done anything personal towards her. Thus, she kept her hostility towards him at a bare minimum.

By the time Potions class had finished, Lily was definitely on the verge of crying. But, to her dismay, her day wasn't finished yet. After lunch was transfiguration, where Potter found it amusing to _accidentally_ - _there's that word again,_ she had thought bitterly - miss his target and transfigure her into a peacock. That was definitely an experience she would rather forget. It was even worse when Black decided to make some smart comments about how feathers suited her more than the fur did. He became the next peacock, five minutes after Lily was transfigured back.

In Lily's defence, she insisted it was because her arms hadn't yet recovered from their brieft stint as feathered wings, and were feeling rather wobbly. James had also received a murderous glare from Lily's direction at that comment, to which he had swiftly snickered too. That didn't go well with Lily, not at all.

Still, more was to come for Lily. In Divination, her teacher, Professor Vasilkus predicted her death, saying '_to beware of black-haired men for they would be her downfall._' Black and Potter were, suffice to say, smiling smugly the entire lesson, for once believing their nutty professor.

Lily had cracked again, and using the remains of her tea, had artfully predicted the most horrific deaths for these black-haired men, earning her an appraising glance from Vasilkus, and no homework for her, which had made the day slightly better.

The worst part of the day came at dinner though. Whilst Lily had finally unwound from the day, and was enjoying her favourite dinner of spaghetti Bolognese, her owl Nefertiti unusually delivered a late letter to her. Lily disregarded this as she read the letter, absentmindedly stroking her owl.

Her eyes brimmed with tears as she skimmed through the content and she resisted the urge to burn the letter right there and then.

James and the others had also noticed this letter, and James felt it was his duty to speak up.

"What's a matter Evans?" he asked, not sounding concerned in the least. Lily fixed her gaze on him, and James saw the unshed tears in her eyes.

"It's none of your business." Lily said softly, her voice almost sounding defeated.

James, either was incredibly dense, or just downright foolish, but he ignored her soft tone, and continued to taunt her.

"What? I can't hear you Evans. Speak up, your beak is still muffling your voice."

Lily snapped and the letter dropped from her hands as she suddenly stood up and shouted dangerously,

"I said it was none of your damn business _Potter,_ so just _butt_ out you insensitive git! Thanks to you and Black, I have had the worst day, so why don't you quit now while you're ahead, before I do something I'll regret."

When Lily had finished, she noticed with embarrassment that the Great Hall had become completely silent. She lowered her head down to look at the floor, before walking out of the Great Hall.

It wasn't until she reached the safety of an empty classroom that she finally let out all her anger. There her red-headed temper was released, and desks and books went flying via her wand (to be later repaired by the very same wand after they had been broken).

* * *

Meanwhile James eyes were still fixated on the door that Lily had exited from. He only returned back to Earth when he received a hard whack on the head. Turning irritably, he faced an equally irritated Bella. 

"You really have no compassion for anyone at all do you?" she exclaimed.

James shrugged, rubbing his head, "Not for Evans I don't."

This was the wrong thing to say Bella, and soon enough James found his face squished into the spaghetti. He came up spluttering indignantly and was about to retaliate, but stopped as he noticed that Bella had shifted her attention to the letter that Sionell had discreetly picked up. Bella's murderous expression softened into pity, as did Sionell's.

"What letter?" Bella demanded in confusion after she had finished reading the letter.

"I don't believe she would do that …" breathed Sionell, shaking her head at Bella. James curiosity was piqued and he couldn't help but ask,

"Who do what?" whilst wiping the remaining spaghetti sauce off his face.

Arabella gave a bitter laugh, without bothering to face him, "Don't you think you should take Lily's advice, and mind your own business, you self indulgent, nosy lit-"

"Bella _don't_. We need to find Lily. She must be devastated." Sionell broke in firmly, her voice cracking slightly at the last sentence.

Bella sighed in defeat, "You're right. Who knows where she's wreaking havoc right now."

With that, the two girls followed Lily's example and exited the Great Hall, intent on finding Lily and stopping her from doing … whatever it was she was doing.

They of course, like Lily, had inconveniently forgotten to take the letter with them, and it didn't take long for the Marauders to notice.

* * *

James was fighting an inner struggle to listen to what the girls had said, or take the letter, but thankfully was saved by Sirius, who snatched up the letter eagerly. He read the letter for a few moments, before his expression turned sympathetic. 

"What is it?" Remus blurted out concernedly. Sirius frowned, before saying slowly,

"I don't really get everything … but I kinda get the gist of it. Lily's parents are angry with her for a letter that she sent to her sister. They expressed their immense disappointment in her for sending it. Here listen to this part …

… _we are still unable to accept the letter that you sent to Petunia a couple of weeks ago. She has been gracious enough to send you weekly letters, and you respond to her in such a manner that disappoints us. Petunia showed us your latest letter and we are ashamed that you have learnt such vulgar language at your school. Although we are proud of your studies, we are not happy that you are choosing that over keeping in contact with your sister. Surely, she is more important. We always thought that Petunia was the reason behind your differences, but now we have finally realised the extent of jealousy that you hold towards your sister. So we will not be sending you any extra money for the rest of the month, and you will send a letter of apology to your sister immediately. It is too late to take back what you said in the letter, but not to re-mend your ties with your sister_ …"

Sirius looked up to look quizzically at the other boys, all of which were looking equally as confused. Peter was the first to speak up.

"Vulgar? … Lily? Are they sure they have the right person?"

James missed the comment, as he was too busy thumping his head on the table.

"No wonder she was so upset at me." he mumbled miserably, emphasising each gap by a thump on the table. Sirius stopped him, by wrenching his head up by the collar.

"Well, losing brain cells over it isn't going to make things any better," he joked weakly.

James jumped up as a cute Hufflepuff girl caught his eye and smiled at him. He immediately lost his train of thought as he smiled back, and the girl giggled, turning back to talk with her friends.

"Yeah, she's not really worth losing anything over …" he said haphazardly, his eyes still fixed on the Hufflepuff girl. Remus cast him a disapproving glare. "What? I'll apologise later or something."

"Nothing." Remus answered curtly, shaking his head before he continued to eat.

* * *

It didn't take long for Bella and Sionell to find Lily, they could hear the crashing noises all the way down the hallway. When they finally entered the room, they were surprised to find Lily sitting on one table, and another table zooming past their heads. Sionell ducked automatically, pushing Bella down to the ground. 

Lily broke out of her trance to cast them an apologetic look.

"Sorry." she mumbled softly, levitating the table back to the ground, and mending one of its legs.

Arabella casually pulled herself up from the ground and dusted herself off, but not after throwing a dirty look at Sionell.

Lily was too busy to notice that, as she retreated back into her own thoughts. The only question that was running through her mind was what letter? Petunia never sent her letters, and ditto. If anything, Petunia always steered clear of owls and Lily's 'freakish' life.

"Lily?" Sionell's coaxing voice broke her thoughts, and Lily turned her face to look dully at them. Her eyes had lost their twinkle, and were noticeably darker than usual. Lily knew by her tone that they had read the letter, so she automatically began to defend herself.

"I never sent Pet a letter … I never even knew about it." she said helplessly. A reassuring arm was placed around her shoulders, and Lily smiled gratefully as Sionell hugged her.

"We know Lily. Your _sister_ must have forged a letter from you because she wanted to get you into trouble." spat Bella who had spread herself across one of the desks.

"You know what I can't believe?" Lily began.

"What?"

Lily took a deep, steadying breath before continuing on, "That Pet would go this far, just to get me out of her life. What have I done that was so bad to her? I don't understand it."

"You have done nothing Lil, and you shouldn't dwell on it. Petunia is not worth your worrying. She obviously does not worry about you in the slightest."

Sionell nodded her agreement. "Bella's right Lily, you're better than her and you shouldn't waste your time on her."

It was a hesitant moment when Lily thought about her parents.

"What am I going to do about my parents though? They think I wrote that letter." she said cringing.

Arabella raised an eyebrow and asked in the most cheekiest tone, "Got any frogspawn?"

They all couldn't help but crack up laughing, but Bella sobered up as she added, "We could always say that it wasn't from you, but from someone else."

Lily gasped. "I can't tell them that Petunia faked the whole thing."

"No, no, I didn't mean it like that. We could just say that there was a mix-up in the mail, and Petunia didn't get the right letter. That she maybe got a letter from the … Marauders or one of the Slytherin's."

"I can't do that," refused Lily, "I'll just have to apologise gracefully, and throttle Petunia when I see her next …"

_And throttle her I will_, Lily thought bitterly.

* * *

Lily strode furiously down the halls of Hogwarts, every now and then aiming her wand at couples snogging in the corners. It was three hours after Arabella and Sionell had found her in the classrooms, and she had finally decided to vent all her frustration out into her duties, rather than the 'poor desks and ickle bookies', as Bella had said so compassionately before she left. 

"Honestly, what is everyone's problem tonight?" she exclaimed to no one in particular. A nearby portrait shrugged disinterestedly. "Has everyone but me gone mad?"

"No, _you're_ just the only one who doesn't have a social life other than ruining others." James appeared from behind a knight, a giggling Hufflepuff in tow.

Lily sighed. All she needed now was a confrontation with Potter, the guy who had practically single-handedly snogged every girl at Hogwarts (as evidenced by the boxers incident). Except her (and her friends) of course, Lily reminded herself, straightening slightly.

"Do you have to annoy me now? Didn't you have enough at dinner?" she asked, her eyes flashing dangerously.

James shook his head ashamedly, "I didn't come to annoy you Evans, I was just joking. I never meant to upset you. Sometimes things just slip out, like just before."

It took a while to sink in that Potter had actually come close to an apology, and Lily nodded mutely before her senses came rushing back to her.

"Hang on, why the sudden change in attitude?"

"Do I need a reason?- Ok, ok fine, you … left your letter at the table, and I uh … happened to-"

"Stick your prying nose into the letter and read it?" Lily interrupted angrily.

"Well I was going to say skim my eyes over it by accident … but I guess your way was fine." James added hastily, as Lily had taken a menacing step forward.

"Why must you be so meddlesome?" cried Lily, "You are always prying into other people's lives, especially mine. We can't even stand each otheryet you have to know all about my life!"

James lost his temper, and forgot about how he was trying to treat Lily nicer.

"Aren't you the hypocrite?" he muttered sarcastically, and continued on before Lily could respond, "What do you think you're doing right now by coming down here and taking points away from everyone? I'd say you were doing the same. Interrupting people's lives and meddling in their private business."

"This is my job _as a prefect _Potter, yours too I might add." said Lily, impatiently tapping her foot, anxious to leave his obnoxious presence. "You weren't supposed to be _joining _in."

"Oh I forgot, Lily Evans _always_ follows the rules. Never strays from the line of the rules. Well if you ask me, _I_ just think it's all an excuse." He smirked, crossing his arms smugly.

"Excuse for what?" demanded Lily.

"That you can't get anyone who would want to snog you."

Lily gasped and lost her grip on her wand. It clattered to the floor, echoing loudly in the hallway, but Lily was too busy glaring at James as if her life depended on it. She was aghast at what he had just said. It was more hurtful than James could have realised. She opened her mouth to reply before she had even thought about what she was going to say.

"It's not my fault that everyone's snog-crazy, and it most certainly does not give you an excuse … to attack me like this … I never mention _your_ nightly escapades or doings." Lily retorted angrily, casting a meaningful glance at the now red Hufflepuff girl.

James stiffened and Lily was too charged up to cheer her success. Without meaning to, she had struck him where it hurts.

"You think you're so smart, don't you Evans?" James barked angrily, pushing away her thoughts. "Always holding it over everyone that you're top student … prefect … most likely to be Head Girl … That's your problem, you're too damn big-headed and conceited to have _anyone_ who could care about you. Who do you have that actually cares about you?"

At that comment, Lily lost all her strength, all her adrenaline that usually popped up whenever James turned up. Figuring that this conversation was over, James haughtily pushed past her, his hand gripping the girl's hand tightly.

It took all of Lily's remaining strength to shakily bend down to pick up her wand. There was nothing left to say to Potter. He was right, nobody could care about her the way that they cared about him. James always had hoards of girls after him for his good looks and all the guys were envious of him for everything else.

And who did she have? Lily answered the question aloud after James had stalked off.

"Nobody …"

She never noticed the shadow flicking behind one of the knights as she wearily walked back to the common room.

**

* * *

A/N: **There, chapter three is finished and posted. Review away people. Please :D 

_**Re-edited as of 7th March, 2006. Still not OotP or HBP compliant.**_


	4. Detentions and surprising revelations

**Title:** Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Spoilers: **Written before Ootp and HBP, but contains some spoilers for both.

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:** I know I said I would review it by Saturday, but I became so bored with my stupid essay, that I decided to take a break from it for a whole ... Well, actually, for a long while, hehe. I'm not really all that fond of Politics groan

Okay, well this chapter, I'm introducing another character (not OC) to Lily, as well as answering the little cliff hanger I left you all with last chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**Diametrically Opposed **

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Four**

_Detentions and surprising revelations_

Two nights later, and it was time for Lily's dreaded detention. To her knowledge, she would be undertaking the detention alone, and she didn't mind in the slightest. Being alone was much better than putting up with Potter and his friends.

Since the little fight in the corridor, Lily had become more reserved towards Potter and chose to avoid him at all costs. Potter's comments had worried her as he had hit frighteningly close to the truth, and she wasn't willing to hear any more observations on his part. Not to mention she didn't think that anyone would appreciate or approve of the words she was itching to say to him, much of them illegal in twenty different countries.

What he had said had really sunk her level of confidence to a new low and did little to help her situation with her sister. Just yesterday, she had sent a letter of apology to her parents and sister, and was anxiously waiting for a reply. Lily could almost imagine the smirk that Petunia would be wearing, knowing that she had succeeded in getting Lily in trouble. Like James, Petunia had always said that Lily acted superior to everyone, but Lily had never truly believed that she treated everyone inferior to her until now. She had always tried to _blend_ in with people, not stand out. Granted her marks were higher than the average student, but the only reason they were so high in the first place was to prove that she belonged and fit in with everyone else at Hogwarts, despite her bloodline.

There weren't that many muggle-borns in her year, so her determination towards her studies was the only way to prove that the prejudiced purebloods were wrong about her. And the whole comment on nobody caring for her? Well, James was right about that one. Not even her own sister cared for her, so what hopes were there of ever finding a guy capable of 'snogging' her or loving her, like James' girlfriends had no problem doing ... not to mention having hoardes of friends, which he seemed to always have around him.

The only thing that had stopped her from taking Potter's words too much to heart and going into depression was the fact that the past couple of days had been considerably more pleasant for her than previous ones at Hogwarts. For one, people were still eager to bring up the incident in the Great Hall, which was now widely known to everyone as the 'prank that pranked the pranksters' or Bella's had joked, the 'foxy boxers' incident. It was pretty lame, but the second one had stuck more in the Gryffindor common room to Lily's delight, and it still hadn't been forgotten yet.

After all, Lily had to admit, never before had anyone dared to face up to the Marauders, much less actually triumph over, so it came as a shock to everyone to find that no one had owned up yet. It had made Hogwarts history in many people's opinion, so it was only sensible to accept responsibility and 'reign the throne' as Lily had overheard Sirius grumbling reluctantly at lunch yesterday.

At first, rumours spread that a group of Slytherins, including Snape and his friends had been responsible, but Snape was no actor, and it was obvious to everyone that he was as dumbstruck as the rest of the school … so it remained a mystery to who pranked the Marauders, except the three girls of course, and the Marauders were not pleased.

In fact, Lily thought in satisfaction, they had become quite paranoid about who was behind it. Peter had been the main example, by making sure he was never alone down the corridors or anywhere else for that matter. Lily had laughed last night after leaving the Great Hall to find that Peter was walking quickly behind her. He had said that he had forgotten the password to get into the common room, but it was obvious that he was frightened. After all, flicking his frightened eyes over to every shadow, and jumping at any moving ones had been an obvious giveaway. She had purposely changed her direction halfway, as if she had forgotten something, and it had amused her to find that Peter had hastily followed. He hadn't yet lived that down …

Grinning goofily, Lily tuned back into the conversation that her friends were having at dinner that night.

Noticing the grin, Arabella knowingly nudged Sionell, who was in the process of spearing her potatoes. Taken by surprise,Sionell's fork completely missed its target, slipping sideways so that one sleeve of her robe fell onto the plate and into the food.

Sionell shrieked in annoyance when she lifted her robe to find that her sleeve had become smeared with potatoes. "Bella!" she complained, desperately starting to wipe the potato on the shoulder of Arabella's robes.

This would have started an all out food fight between the two if it wasn't for Lily deftly interfering.

"So what were you about to say Bella?" she asked, shifting all available plates of food over to her side of the table.

Bella abruptly stopped flicking mashed potato on Sionell, and turned around smiling.

"I was just about to say that from that goofy grin you were sporting, you were obviously thinking about the prank again … right?" she guessed.

Lily nodded in amusement. Her friends knew her way too well.

"Bits of it." Lily replied merrily.

Sionell smiled in return as well, her attempt at strangling Bella forgotten. "Well, think about the prank when you are in detention tonight. That would sure bring your spirits up."

Lily immediately frowned, casting a spiteful glare towards the Marauders who were currently in the process of … wellshe couldn't say what exactly. It looked like a combination of eating then occasionally regurgitating mouthfuls of food whilst talking.

She stifled the gag of disgust as she watched their childish acts, and then silently fumed. While she had detention in the dungeons, those idiots would be back in the common room, doing nothing or stuffing their faces like they were doing right now! How unfair was that?

Bella snorted again, and Lily focused back onto her friends.

"I can't believe _you _of all people has to do a detention. It's only a month into school … it's almost like you've turned into this full rebel now, Lil." Bella joked, laughing.

Lily scowled. "The day I become a rebel is the day that you actually grow up, Bella. Besides, it wasn't even my fault." she added in defence.

"Fine, be that way." Bella retorted cheerily, then sobered up at Lily's expression. "Actually, you do seem pretty down a bit lately … and before you say its about this detention, let me warn you, if you deny it, I will make sure that you suffer for the rest of your life, got that? So spill." she continued on, waving her fork around menacingly, before clumsily dropping it to the ground. She bent down to pick it off the ground, flushing slightly, and not noticing that Sionell had put some more potatoes in her hair.

Lily couldn't help laughing. It felt good to be around friends … friends that did care about her. Who needed dozens of friends or boyfriends when she could have two wonderful best friends who knew her like the back of their hands?

"Nothing's wrong Bella, just had a tough few days if you know what I mean." Lily answered in a convincing tone. Who she was convincing though, Lily wasn't entirely sure.

* * *

After parting from Arabella and Sionell at the Great Hall, Lily started walking towards the dungeons, scuffing her feet on the stone floor in an attempt to lengthen her trip. She knew exactly what was in store for her, and the thought of having to spend a countless amount of hoursbottling armodile bile made her want to scream. This was no divination skill, but she could guarantee that by the end of the detention, there would be more than just armadillo bile available for her potions mistress to have bottled. Although she loved the class itself, the ingredients left much to be desired. Her stomach still had yet to get used to what she had to do with them.

Her stomach gave a flip just at the very reminder, and Lily forced herself into the potions room, where she stopped dead in her tracks. It turned out Lily wasn't alone in detentions after all. Severus Snape, a Slytherin 5th year was snarling as he caught sight of her. Lily presumed she had a similar expression on her face as her heart sunk to the floor.

Like most Slytherins', Severus Snape had a definite grudge against everyone, especially Gryffindors. His hallow skin and hooked nose often provided problems for this bad tempered prefect, as well as his freaky aptitude for potions, and accustomed late night visits to the dungeons. Black, greasy shoulder length hair did little to improve his appearance, only adding to his fierce disposition.

Lily mused there were acceptable reasons behind his ill will towards nearly everyone of the human race as it was a known fact that the Marauders constantly targeted him for pranks. It was also common knowledge that Snape along with his group of friends, Rosier, Lestrange, Black and Wilkes to name a few, had no problem returning the gesture. It was even said that Snape had known more hexes and curses than even the seventh years when he first started Hogwarts, so it was certain that he had only extended his knowledge over the years, guaranteeing trouble for anyone who crossed his path, which almost always included Potter and/or Black.

It wasn't hard to notice that out of all the Marauders, Snape held a great deal of animosity especially towards Potter. Rumour was it that he was jealous of Potter's natural and flawless ability to play Quidditch. (It hadn't helped that the star Seeker hadrecently been named Captain of Gryffindor's Quidditch team, a fact that Potter hadn't failed to repeat on many an occasion.)

Many times Snape and Potter would be found throwing punches, hexes and what not towards each other, and it would often end in a trip to the hospital wing and many, many detentions. Not that Lily minded of course, both of them got on her nerves, so it was no problem for her that they were punished continuously. Immaturity at its best, she supposed.

_Boys_.

Shaking her head wryly, she brought her mind back to the present.

_Great, a detention with armadillo bile and a slimy Slytherin_, she thought sullenly. Funny, it was impossible to determine which one was worse. She had never gotten along with any Slytherins' before, and since her and Snape were the best students in their Potions class - one of the only classesthey even saw each other - their Professor had chosen never to pair them up together either.

So it was definitely going to be an ... interesting detention to say the least.

"So ... are you going to stand there all day, or are you actually planning on doing some work, Evans?" Severus snapped suddenly, proving Lily's suspicions to be correct.

Lily bit her tongue before replying sweetly, "Now that I think about it, I'd rather just stand here."

A cough was the only reply from Snape, but to Lily, it had suspiciously sounded like 'Gryffindorks'. She pointedly ignored this as she walked over beside him, sighing in defeat. The two looked every which way but in each other's direction.

Fortunately, Professor Resten walked in soon after that and pointed them towards a table which held about 50 empty bottles.

"The detention is simple enough. I want you to fill up all these bottles with the armadillo bile that I collected today," was all she said before leaving them alone to do their detention.

They worked in silence for a while, Lily with permanent disgust planted on her face as she gingerly poured the bile into the little, slippery bottles. Soon enough, her hands were covered with bile as well, making her mood even worse. Her stomach decided to join in the complaining, flopping unpleasantly from time to time

She groaned inwardly.The silence wasn't helping either... in fact the muggle saying was right, silence was deadly in this instant. Snape's lack of noise was making her feel slightly uncomfortable, but she wasn't about to say anything willingly to him, not if she could help it.

Surprisingly, after an hour had passed,it was Snape who first broke the silence … with a chuckle. Lily looked over curiously, wiping her hands on a nearby towel. Seeing Snape doing anything other than sneering was a rare sight for anybody, and she would bean idiotto deny that she wasn't fascinated albeit slightly annoyed by his sudden noise.

"What?" she asked cuttingly.

Snape shook his head, smirking; his black eyes were still focused on the bottles as he expertly filled them. To Lily's disappointment, she saw that his hands were free of armadillo bile. That was probably the reason for his chuckle, Lily presumed silently, wrinkling her nose in annoyance and glaring at her own sticky hands.

"Just wondering what you did to get a detention. Perfect Evans never gets a detention." he replied smoothly, if not a bit bitterly.

Lily growled before answering. "Potter and Black."

Snape nodded his head in understanding.

"Ah, why am I not surprised. What did they do?" he asked.

"In potions the other day, when you were absent, they bumped into my cauldron,spillingmy potioneverywhere."she explained. All of a sudden the anger made its ugly reapparance, making her blurt out, "The stupid prats, I can't stand them."

Snape raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't know that you weren't one of their fans. Sure, I've noticed the arguments between you and Potter, who couldn't,but I never thought that you actually hated them." said Snape, dryly, reaching for another bottle.

Lily followed suit, trying to think of something to say in return. She began slowly, "Well I wouldn't say that I hated them, hate is too strong a word. I don't hate anyone really-"

"What about me?" Lily turned in surprise, splashing some bile on the floor. Her stomach again churned at the sight of it, and she mentally promised to not step in that spot in the future.

"No, Snape, I don't even hate you. Annoy me occasionally sure, but I don't even really know you so how can I pass judgement," she replied honestly.

"Even though I'm a Slytherin?"

"Yes." Lily hesitated before continuing, "I've been brought up to never hate anybody, no matter their heritage or. . ." She trailed off uneasily. Why on earth was she telling this to Snape, a Slytherin who hated her kind?

"-Or blood right?" Snape finished knowingly, causing Lily to jerk her eyes away. Snape sighed.

"I don't care that you're a mu- (Lily cringed) –ggleborn." He said it without the usual sneer that would pop up during conversations. "After all, anyone who can tie with me in Potions has got to be proof that these discriminations and prejudices are just fabricated. So I guess you're fine by me in that respect … not to mention that we do have some common ground."

This got Lily's attention, and she abruptly stopped working. She was genuinely touched by his thoughtfulness, and she could not believe that she was hearing this from Snape, of all people. She'd always assumed he, like the majority of the Slytherins', was a pureblood, and shared the same views as the rest of them.

That he apparently didn't was quite a rare event for her.

"Thank you." Lily stuttered slightly, feeling slightly overwhelmed. "But what common ground?" she asked suddenly, the last words sinking in.

"Potter." He snapped impatiently, as if it was obvious.

"Oh right."

Another silence grew between the two of them, until this time Lily decided to pipe up.

"Why are you here?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Same idiotic gits." he replied angrily, turning to face her, "They deemed it suitable to arrange a prank for me, which would result in me getting a detention … all because they were angry at me for denying any responsibility for that prank the other morning."

A slight lump of guilt lodged itself in Lily's throat at the thought of someone else taking the blame for her prank.

"I'm sorry."

Snape frowned, "What for? It wasn't your fault Black and Potter have a stick permanently lodged up their-"

Just like with Bella, Lily did not want to hear the rest of that sentence, and abruptly cut him off, without thinking what she was saying.

"-Because it was me." she blurted out. Realising her mistake too late, her eyes widened, and she reluctantly turned to see Snape's reaction. To her astonishment, Snape was … laughing? Actually after a while, Lily realised it wasn't actually laughing, but just a longer version of his previous chuckle. Still, it didn't seem to fit him.

"It was you?" He spoke up eventually. Lily nodded shamefully, but the corners of her mouth were twitching slightly, remembering everybody's reaction to the prank.

Snape was almost talking to himself as he thoughtfully scratched his chin, "To think that these past few days, the Marauders have been frantically searching for the culprit and all along it was under their noses … A Gryffindor."

Lily flushed involuntarily, shifting her gaze to the floor.

"They were really getting on my nerves." she mumbled weakly in defence.

"With the whole cat episode?" he guessed dryly.

"That topped it I guess," admitted Lily, nodding slowly. "Up until now I've refused to let them get to me, but I guess it got too much for me to handle anymore."

"I can't believe it was you … I mean nobody has even given you a thought, much less any suspicion …"

"I know, that's what so good about it, because I know its driving them nuts."

"You're different than I thought you'd be … you're not so bad for a Gryffindor, Evans." he said unexpectedly, smirking. Lily laughed. She was glad she had someone's approval, other than her two best friends.

"And you're not so bad for a Slytherin, Severus." sShe said, copying Snape slightly and smirking. "Just please don't tell anyone, I wouldn't want to ruin my reputation." She added, pleadingly, and Snape grudgingly agreed with a grunt.

The detention went rather well after that, other than the occasional gagging from Lily as she desperately fought to hold back her … disgust with the armadillo bile. Of course, Severus, as she now decided to call him, would still deliver his typical Slytherin comments, but it was without the usual edge and some were even rather humorous at times.

By the end of the detention, Lily could honestly say that she believed he wasn't as bad as everyone had thought him to be. It also took her mind off other … unpleasant thoughts, so she could even go so far as to say she was grateful in a way.

As they finally finished and bid their goodnights, Lily was too weary to explain to her friends how the detention went. All she said before she walked into the bathroom to have a shower was

"It was definitely a different experience …"

* * *

Remus cautiously approached James that same night in their dorm.

"When are you planning on giving Lily a proper apology?" asked Remus.

He was watching James closely as he went to answer. "It's almost impossible to apologise to Evans. I tried, and then she just … I dunno, she gets on my nerves and I can't help but say something back to her."

"Well, you've gotta stop treating Lily like that." Remus said sternly. James head popped up in irritation.

"You're joking right?" asked James, his eyes narrowed. "I just told you I cant help it with her. She's no angel either."

Remus shook his head. "What you said the other night really got to h-"

James cut him off in confusion with a raised hand.

"Hang on, how do you know what happened last night? You weren't there?"

"I was sneaking back from the kitchens after missing dinner…and then I heard something, so I hid behind a knight." explained Remus, before sheepishly adding, "I didn't have the invisibility cloak, and it was right next to where you two were arguing. There was no way I was going to be involved in your little fight. My legs are still recovering from the last time."

James cringed as the image of Remus getting caught in the crossfire of Lily's and his duel, popped across his mind. Remus hadn't been too happywhen he'd hadto shakily walk back to the common room to find the counter curse, and James had definitely paid for it. When Remus was angry he sure could shout loud … and he didn't read all those defence books for nothing.

Suppressing a shudder,he finally replied, "I still don't get why it's so important to you. Hang on…" James broke off to fix Remus with an incredulous look, "Don't tell me you fancy Evans?"

"No, no James I don't." reassured Remus, hesitating slightly as he continued on, "But she is a friend."

James jumped up in surprise.

"How can you be her friend? She's such a know-it-all, good for noth-"

"James, she _is_ my friend. You only see her as those things because of the way you antagonise her. She just naturally reacts to you in that way." Remus stopped and seemed to ponder something for a moment or to before going on. "… and I shouldn't be telling you this, but after you left I overheard her talking to herself. She agreed with what you said, meaning she actually believed that crap you dribbled to her about."

"Believed which part?" interrupted James, thoughtfully sifting through the comments he had made to her. There were quite a few of them, and he didn't want to incriminate himself anymore, as he wasn't sure how much of the conversation Remus had heard.

"The part where you said she had nobody and that nobody would want to 'snog' her." Remus answered promptly, glaring meaningfully at James as he emphasised 'snog'.

James gulped and managed a feeble, "Oops." as he remembered.

"Oops? That's all you can say?" Remus stood up in outrage. He began to walk out of the room, shaking his head, still mumbling, "Oops … how you get any girls is beyond me."

"Alright, I will apologise to her tomorrow … I promise." James announced loudly, turning back to his homework. "I will!" he insisted, catching a glimpse of Remus in a nearby photo who was smiling innocently back at him … too innocently, he thought grumpily.

* * *

**A/N:** Is that enough to keep you all happy for a while? I didn't end it on a cliff hanger, although once again I had James promising to apologise to poor Lily. But will he go through with it properly next time? Find out next chapter, but I wont be updating the next chapter until at least . Oh, and I also wanted to say that I always intended on the shadow being Remus, he just seems like such a sweet guy, don't ya think? Anyway review, and I hope you all don't think that was way out of Snape's character, and that he was too quick to change his judgement on Lily. I just realised it was pretty quick.

_**Re-edited on 25th March, 2006. Not OotP or HBP compliant.**_


	5. Don't say it

**DESTINED TO BE**

**Summary:** Lily Evans and James Potter never hit it off from the day they met at Hogwarts. Five years down the track, and they've managed to up the level of mutual differences to pure hatred. What will happen when they gain insights on each other in the most important years of their lives? Are they really 'Destined to be?'

**Forewords:**

I just have one thing to say and that is I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It was my favourite to write (along with chapter 2), so if that doesn't give you a hint to what it most likely entails, I suggest you just read on anyway. LOL.

And once again I want to thank the following people for reviewing before the next chapter starts:

**Zane Lupin:** _I'm very happy that you liked this chapter. And I agree with what your saying. I've always wondered why Snape always insulted James, but never even mentioned Lily, maybe it was because he and her were friends of some sort at school and he resented the fact that Lily and James got together._

**Charismatic Charm:** _Thank you! My exams aren't for another 3 weeks though so I can't be bothered worrying about them yet._

**Kitty:** _Yeah, but don't worry James isn't as cruel as he seems to be. He'll get better … eventually._

**Michelle:** _Well you wont find out how they get together for a looong while. Things get worse before they get better. Or in my case, they get worse then better then worse then … get the picture? LOL. Anyway, this chapter has more interaction between L/J so enjoy!_

**Ashlee:** _Thank u! And I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you did the last._

**Hp addict:** _LOL that's alright for not knowing. No harm done, it's actually better for u cos now u don't have to wait for me to come back! I like Remus too, but I have to say I love them all!! Except Peter of course, but I'm trying to keep him nice as its obvious he didn't become evil during school. I've contemplated on writing what u suggested about her friends, but you'll just have to wait and see. Oh and im real sorry, I know you wanted a longer chapter, but I just had to end it where I did. You'll see at the end of the chapter. It is the longest chapter I've done though._

**Wo Ai Ni16:** _Thanks, I try not to post any grammatical or spelling errors, cause I know how annoying it gets to read some fics that are barely decipherable. And it would be pretty bad if I couldn't write properly, because I'm planning on becoming a journalist. LOL! Keep on reading by the way, please, cause then hopefully you'd want to add a few more 'really's' in front of your last review. If that's possible, you put quite a few ;)_

**BlueEyedWildmage: **_Thank you for reviewing again, I'm glad you like some of my comments. I know some are pretty lame so I was pleased when u said u liked the last comment. :)_

CHAPTER FIVE

~Don't say it …~

The next morning at breakfast was not a very enjoyable one for Lily. If there was one thing that Lily wasn't, it was a morning person. Getting up in the morning to have breakfast at 8:30 was a rare occurrence for Lily as breakfast just wasn't her thing. Poor Peter had already been directly involved in her bad mood, receiving a bowl of cereal over his head for his cheerful efforts at greeting her. Normally, Lily was quite shy to people but mornings brought the worst out of her, and she was just too tired and cranky to care what other people thought about her.

Lily violently buttered her toast, as she thought back to the reason to why she was even there in the first place. It was all thanks to Peeves the poltergeist that she had started the day off feeling like a complete grouch, not to mention a walking zombie. He had woken her up at 5:30, by stealing all of her blankets. It had been a cold night, and it just wasn't possible for Lily to go back to sleep whilst simultaneously freezing to death. Grumbling the entire time, and making sure she had made plenty of noise for her other roommates to wake up (payback for previous mornings), she had then purposely taken an extra long, HOT shower so breakfast would arrive sooner.

"So …" Bella cut in, pausing to look expectantly at Lily. "You said that your detention was different. What was so different about it?" she cajoled, albeit hesitantly and at a sufficient distance away. Bella was not keen on following Peter's example at being showered in cereal.

Lily's eyes shot up, and she managed to smile wanly. "Oh that … umm, I just didn't have detention alone, it was with Snape."

"Are you okay? He didn't say anything about -" asked Sionell in concern.

"Oh no, nothing like that, I assure you. In fact, we … talked. He was quite different than I thought him to be." Lily assured her.

"Wait a minute go back a bit. Snape? You talked to Snape?" exclaimed Bella in shock, leaning over to place a hand on Lily's forehead. "Are you sure your alright?"

Lily slapped Bella's hand away crossly. "Of course I'm alright. We just found that we have quite a bit in common."

"Like what?" Bella demanded. 

"Our … view on Potter for instance."

"Do you want to kill Potter?" Sionell asked curiously. Lily laughed … Potter wasn't that bad … yet. She'd have to wait and see before she contemplated killing him … or not.

"NO, we both just do not … think much of him. And there's also the fact that we are both prefects and he is rather smart."

"If you want to call it that." Bella muttered under her breath.

"Bella!" Lily chided, close enough to clearly hear that comment.

"What? I just can't get around the fact, that you are being civil to that slimy git!" Bella objected. "I can handle you going around and making new friends, but not with Snape! He's a Slytherin for Merlin's sake!"

Lily frowned and she raised her hand, "I really don't want to talk about this anymore Bella, your being utterly ridiculous."

"Yes, but-"

"No buts, Arabella Figg, I won't hear it, or I'll have to resort to drastic measures."

"What could you possibly do to me that would be 'drastic'? I bet that you couldn't d-"

Lily interjected to call out loudly to someone who had just entered her range of eyesight, "Hi Amos, how are things going with quidditch at the moment?"

Bella's eyes bugged out and to Lily's satisfaction, choked slightly on her toast.

She asked for it, she really did, Lily thought smugly, watching as Bella frantically shook her head. Amos in the meantime had stopped in front of them, a cocky grin lighting up his face at the mention of quidditch. Bella discreetly inched out of Amos's view as she continued to shake her head. They had broken up the day after the Hogsmeade visit as it was obvious Bella couldn't handle him anymore. She still cringed at the very sight of him.

Amos knowingly looked at the girls. "Ahh, why? Are you worried we are going to beat you at the upcoming match?" he drawled, his voice oozing with confidence. 

Sionell pursed her lips slightly, but Amos didn't seem to notice as he continued on. "Don't worry you'll get used to it. No offence Prewitt but your team's just not up to standard, especially with Potter as your seeker."

Bella had ceased her head shaking, and had started to gesture wildly with her hands (suggesting strangulation, Lily guessed) behind Amos's back. He turned around abruptly, and Bella reluctantly moved back to her original spot on the seat, giving him a fake smile.

"None taken. Got any moves you've been practicing? I'm sure Bella could give you a couple of tips on how to go about catching that snitch." replied Sionell, grinning evilly as she poked Bella in the side.

Amos looked quizzically at her, and didn't notice Lily and Bella's red faces as they unsuccessfully fought back their amusement. "Thanks, but I think I already know everything I need to win … Anyway, she's not even a Quidditch player."

"Ahhh but some of her manoeuvres are quite unique, and I assure you they would work quite well under the circumstances." Sionell continued, her mouth twitching.

"Yes, well maybe another time. I'm sure Potter could find her tips more useful at this point of time."

Lily had to agree with that one, as she spoke up, "Yes, I do believe he could too." slowly shifting her gaze down the table and over to Potter, who was busy flirting with that same Hufflepuff girl. He would indeed …

"Maybe you should go and suggest it to him right now Bella?" she suggested innocently.

It was too much for Bella and Sionell at that comment, and they couldn't hold in their laughter anymore. Soon enough, the three girls were laughing hysterically, leaving Amos to scratch his head in bewilderment as he walked away to class ("Girls.").

After he had left, Sionell managed to regain her composure long enough to splutter, "That was a classic, Lily. Arrogant thing he is though … not up to standard, yeah right." 

"Classic? My foot it was. Your evil, Lil, real evil." Bella moaned, covering her face with her hands. Lily gave an evil laugh, as she pulled herself up from the table.

"You did ask for it, you know." and patted Bella on her back. "You'll just-"

"Don't say it … I know, I'll have to learn to keep my mouth shut in the future." Bella mimicked. They all knew Lily's speeches off by heart, as it was often that Lily reprimanded Bella for something.

Lily sighed good-naturedly, and rolled her eyes. She glanced down to look at her watch ("Your late, your late, your late for a very important date.").

"Bella!" she shrieked. Bella looked up expectantly waiting for her to continue. She didn't disappoint.

"You have got to stop reading my book, Alice in Wonderland!"

"Why?"

"Because now you've even got my watch copying you, that's why!" 

Arabella shrugged apologetically, and then stretched lazily. 

"The watch is right though, we are going to be late you know." Sionell said pointedly. Lily gasped, and grabbed her bag frantically, completely forgetting about her issue with the watch.

"I can't be late for Charms. We are learning about hypnosis charms today." she cried in alarm, rushing out of the Great Hall, which had almost become empty.

As always, Bella and Sionell calmly followed their hurricane of a friend to their charms classroom. Even though Sionell cared about her schoolwork, charms was not her speciality, and knowing Lily (as it was her favourite subject), she would insist on them sitting in the front. 

Bella remained unfazed, as she just didn't care about being late. Instead, she flashed a dazzling smile at Jon Hudson, a 6th year Ravenclaw who was walking past her. He gaped before smacking into the wall, which was holding up a portrait of a King ("Off with his head!"). Bella snickered, pretending not to notice as he scrambled to pick up his belongings, while the king was trying in vain to reach him and cut off his head.

~*~

Once everyone had entered the classroom, (the Hufflepuff's and Gryffindors were together in this class), Professor Flitwich began to talk, "Ok class, you all know that today we will be learning about hypnosis charms …"

James tuned out immediately to begin chatting with Sirius.

"So when are we trying the potion?" he whispered.

"… A hypnosis charm is quite like the imperious spell, but it is not illegal and does not control one's body, more the mind than anything else. It is mostly used in wizard psychiatry and sometimes divination for …" Flitwick squeaked on excitedly over the class noise. The only person listening intently was Lily, who was writing copious notes on her parchment.

"Tonight, the sooner the better." Replied Sirius, smirking as he leant over. "I don't think I can stand Moaning Myrtle's moaning anymore."

"… Ok everybody, now I want you to all pick your partners, but this lesson we are only going to have one of you hypnotising the other."

James immediately shot over to Sirius's desk, but Professor Flitwick saw and gave a little shriek. Having them together was like saying you wanted to commit suicide.

"No, no, actually on second thoughts why don't I pick the partners today. I don't even want to imagine what Messrs Potter and Black could come up with against each other …"

The class laughed and James and Sirius pretended to bow.

"Well then, How about … the two Gryffindor prefects together, uh Miss Evans and Mr Potter …"

James amusement abruptly came to a halt, and he groaned, hitting his head on the table. Talk about bad luck! Lily stifled her own groan as Sionell nudged her sympathetically.

"… Mr Lupin with Mr Pettigrew. I trust you two will behave yourselves?"

The two in question nodded vigorously at Flitwick, before sending triumphant looks at Sirius and James who were scowling.

"Right, umm how about Miss Prewitt with … Mr Diggory? …"

Lily and Bella turned their heads sharply over to Sionell, cringing, but instead of the grimace they expected to see on her face, there was a mischievous smirk.

'Uh oh." Lily mouthed to Bella, who nodded her agreement.

" … And Miss Figg with Mr Black-"

Bella's head swivelled around as she cut off Flitwick in mid-sentence. "Your making me go with him?!" she shrieked in horror.

"Is there a problem Miss Figg?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with me." Sirius demanded, putting on a puppy dog face. Bella sighed unenthusiastically, as she leant back in her seat.

"Forget it," she grumbled, before whispering sarcastically to Lily, "Apart from me having to work with a total loony, I'm fine."

Flitwick cleared his throat to continue. "… And lastly the two remaining Hufflepuff's, Miss Finch-Fletchly and Mr Abbot." He closed the role book with a snap, and almost lost his balance on the row of books.

"Right, you all know what to do, so lets begin."

Lily reluctantly shifted over to Potter's table, as it was obvious that James wasn't planning on moving anytime soon. She was no longer as excited about trying these hypnosis charms, because who knows what Potter was planning to do with her mind whilst she was under?

She wasn't far from the truth, because at that very moment, a very crazy idea had entered James' head, and he couldn't resist trying it.

"Let me try the charm on you first." He said quickly.

Lily cleared her throat, and clasped both hands tightly in front of her, before nodding slowly.

"Fine," she agreed finally, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

James eagerly edged closer and muttered the charm, "Hypnos."

Lily went completely still. James waved his hand in front of her.

"Evans?" No answer, so James was satisfied that he could continue. He grinned in satisfaction.

"You will accept my apology from the other night and forgive me for everything that I've done." He stated in a low tone, but inwardly was jumping in joy. If this was pulled off, him and Lily could try being friends … and he wouldn't have to bother apologising to her again.

"… Oh and remember these charms only ever last 2 hours or so, so don't expect these to be long term. And they will also remember everything afterwards, mind you." Flitwick said over the noise again.

"Damn." James cursed his stupidity. Of course it wouldn't be permanent, what was he thinking? Why didn't he listen before and do the required reading. Then at least he would have known before rushing into his stupid idea. Now Lily would remember afterwards and realise what he had been trying to do. 

"What am I gonna do?" he groaned, closing his eyes. Oh well he might as well just go along with it now, see what it would actually be like, as it was surely not bound to happen anytime soon now that he had pulled this stunt.

"Do about what?" Peter asked, from two desks over. He was currently trying to hypnotise Remus, but had only succeeded in making him fall fast asleep. He poked Remus, whose head had lolled to one side, and had started to snore softly.

James shook his head, holding back a grin as he momentarily forgot his predicament. Peter gave up, shrugging, and strolled over to James and Lily.

"What are you going to make her do?" 

James moaned as he turned back to Lily. "It's not what am I going to do her, its what is she going to do to me after this charm wears off?"

"What do you mean?" Peter asked, curiously searching Lily for anything strange.

"Don't worry, you'll see in a couple of hours time." He replied, pointing his wand back to Lily so she could wake up.

~*~

Arabella was just about to direct Sirius into doing something very amusing, but was interrupted as Sionell called to her from the other side of the room.

"What?" Bella cried back in annoyance. Sionell beckoned for her to walk over. Sighing, and casting a wistful look at Sirius who was still in a trance, she grudgingly shuffled over.

"Yes?" Bella asked, in a sickly sweet tone. Sionell pointed to Amos who was sitting in his chair, smiling.

"Ask him about Quidditch." She instructed quietly, out of Amos' hearing range. Bella's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Are you kidding me? No way!"

Sionell shushed Bella, before replying. "Just do it, you'll see. Trust me." she insisted.

Bella grumbled before facing Amos. "How's Quidditch go-"

She was cut off by an earth shattering scream that emitted from Amos' mouth. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh."

Bella immediately placed both hands over her ears as she stared in amusement at Sionell, who was giggling uncontrollably.

"That's great Nell," she shouted, above the scream, "But how do we get him to stop."

Sionell giggled even harder, before answering, "By saying this …" She paused dramatically, then "… Gryffindor is going to win."

Amos' scream cut off immediately and he looked around in confusion. "What just happened?"

"Nothing much." Bella replied laughing, before grabbing Sionell's sleeve and dragging her over to Sirius' table. "Now watch the master." She boasted.

Leaning over for a few minutes to whisper in Sirius' ear, Bella satisfactorily stepped back as Sirius snapped out of his trance.

"Say something for me Sirius." Bella coaxed.

"Doe, a deer a female deer, ray a pocket full of sun, me a name I call myself, far along the way to-"

Sionell squealed in delight, but winced as Sirius hit a high note. "What did you do to him?"

"I made him think that he was living in a musical, and I gave him a few muggle songs to sing, that I heard at Lily's house." Bella explained.

"You got some of the words wrong though." Lily had walked up behind her, who seemed to still be in one piece.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, way up low-."

"-High." Lily corrected, giggling.

"Highhhhh." Sirius continued melodramatically. He stopped for a moment before starting a new song. "The hills are alive with the sound of music …"

Lily sighed wistfully. "Don't you just love Julie Andrews? Even though she was a muggle-"

"Actually she wasn't a muggle. She was a witch, mum's got all her songs and movies." James added suddenly, appearing from behind Lily. He caught Lily's doubtful look.

"How do you reckon she did Mary Poppins?" he asked. "And besides she was babysitting for a magic family in the movie. It caused a huge uproar at the Ministry when it was accidentally released in the muggle world."

Arabella cut in dumbly. "Really? How come Sionell and I never knew that?"

"It could be because we never had anything to do with musicals when we were younger Bella, remember?" Sionell replied evenly. "We were more likely to be outside dunking your brother in the mud."

Bella nodded meekly. "I guess … the first musical I ever saw was at Lily's. And it wasn't really by choice." She added pointedly, glaring at Lily, who gave a dismissive wave.

"Oh, it's not as if I tied you down to a chair to listen to it or anything stupid like that. Anyway, thanks James." Lily gushed, flashing him a friendly smile. Bella and Sionell shared a disbelieving look before purposefully turning to James.

"What did you do to Lily?" asked Bella, her voice low so Lily couldn't hear. But Lily was too busy listening to Sirius sing to notice anything.

"Nothing." James replied in what he hoped was an innocent tone. Sionell narrowed her eyes as she pushed James away.

"Since when do you call Potter, James?" asked Sionell, giving up on James and turning to Lily. Lily frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked, "That's his name, isn't it? Its rude to call someone by their last name anyway It's not as if I hate him." 

Bella's eyebrows shot up as something dawned in her mind. "Right, because he's such a good friend to you." she said knowingly.

Lily nodded her head emphatically. "Of course he is. What on earth gave you the idea that we weren't?"

"Gee I don't know, maybe its beca-"

"-Because Bella's feeling extra sarcastic today, right Bella?" Sionell finished hastily, motioning with her eyes to go along with her.

Bella reluctantly nodded, before whispering to Sionell out of the corner out of her mouth.

"Boy is Lily going to kill him when the charm wears off …"

"Miss Figg! Can you please do something about Mr Black?" Professor Flitwick screamed, pointing over to Sirius who had somehow managed to get up on the desks, singing,

"I'm off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Ozzzzz!"

Bella giggled, as Professor Flitwick wearily sat down on his books. 

"Note to self, next time, put restrictions on what can be done under hypnosis." He mumbled, watching the class as Miss Finch-Fletchly walked around the room clucking like a chicken, and Bella was roughly pulling Sirius back down to the ground, who had refused to stop singing. Remus was still snoring soundly in the corner of the room, and Amos had just started screaming again ("Ahhhhhhh").

"What did I ever get myself into?" he whined.

~*~

Strangely enough, James enjoyed the rest of charms and the following class, Defence Against the Dark Arts. For once, Lily and him weren't at each other throats, and she was surprisingly pleasant. She had even let him copy the last two inches of her DADA assignment, just as long as he studied an hour longer than usual.

He really liked being her friend.

At lunch, the 5th year Gryffindors decided to sit together. If Sirius, Remus and Peter had noticed the drastic change in Lily (which they most obviously had), they ignored it, and for that James was grateful. Surprisingly, Bella and Sionell kept quiet for the time being as well, but unknown to him, it was for a different reason. They just liked to see what Lily would do after realising that she had willingly spent time with him.

"Hey Amos!" James called suddenly, walking over to join Amos at the Hufflepuff table. Apparently the Marauders (excluding Sirius who could still only sing songs) had figured out what Sionell had done to Amos and they wasted no time in tormenting him. It was the third time that they had done it, but the satisfaction had not yet faded.

Amos' head shot up and he coolly glanced at James. Unnoticed by him, his friends had already placed their hands over their ears ("Don't say it … please don't say it"). 

"Who's going to win Quidditch?" James asked deviously, ignoring Amos' friends' pleas. Once again, the Great Hall was filled with a loud, continuous scream.

"Come on say it now." James urged slyly, directing it towards Amos' friends. They obviously knew what they had to say to stop the screaming, Sionell had smugly told them in charms, but they were very, very reluctant to say it, as they were just as obsessive about Quidditch as Amos.

"I do say, who's going to win now chaps?" James pressed, putting on a posh voice.

After a couple of minutes, one of his friends growled before saying it quietly. Amos stopped screaming, and he continued to eat his lunch, unaware that the entire Great Hall was watching him. 

"I don't think it was loud enough, but I apologise for mentioning … Quidditch." he quickly added, swiftly running away from the exasperated "Potter's!" and another blood curdling scream.

Feeling contented, James sat back down in his seat. "I don't think I'll ever get sick of doing that." He chuckled, looking down at his watch. "Too bad it ends in like two minutes … uh oh."

He whacked his head with his forehead, whilst Remus looked on questionably. Deciding to take things into his own hands, James grabbed Lily's arm and led her outside of the Great Hall.

"Now before this charm runs out, I want to tell you something about the charm." he began quickly.

"I was wondering what you had done to me." Lily marvelled.

"Well, you see … umm oh sod it, before you go back to … normal, I want to apologise in advance for everything that I have said to you this year. I only did this charm on you because I wanted to see what it was like for us to be friends … and I liked it." He stopped breathlessly as he realised the charm had just worn off. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the slap that would no doubt be coming from her direction any second now.

~*~

Going back a bit to charms, after Lily had been hypnotised, she had awoken to feel completely different. Something was off, there was no doubt about it, but Lily couldn't for the life of her figure it out.

After walking over to her friends and chatting with them about musicals, she returned back to the desk she shared with James and started to chat to him about their DADA homework. He was complaining about the two inches he still needed to fill up, and feeling completely out of character, she had allowed him to copy. 

During DADA, she sat a table in front of James, and she turned around occasionally to engage in another friendly chat, since the teacher was only allowing them time for their assignments and they had now both finished.

What Lily found really strange, was why had she not ever noticed how smart James was. Even though he fooled around plenty with his friends, they were all still quite serious about their grades. _I guess you learn new things about your friends everyday_, she thought.

It was at the end of lunch that James had pulled her out of the Great Hall to talk to her privately. He started going on about apologising for something, and she didn't understand a bit of it.

Until, Lily momentarily felt disorientated and everything blurred that is. When her vision returned, she found herself in front of James, and for a moment stood there stupidly. At first she couldn't remember why she was there, but then everything came rushing back to her. The stupid git had hypnotised her to forgive him, and she had spent time with him!

"How could you even think of doing something like that?!" screeched Lily, causing James' eyes to open with a snap as she whacked him on the arm. "Did you think that you could just get out of apologising to me? Because that was an utterly ludicrous idea! What ever were you thinking?" she repeated, running out of things to say.

James mumbled something under his breath, and Lily couldn't quite catch it.

"What?"

"I SAID I'M SORRY ALRIGHT? I told you already." He yelled suddenly, lowering his voice at the end as his eyes flashed with guilt.

How dare he yell at he- wait a minute, there was something else. That's it, he had apologised to her just before the charm had worn off. And it sounded as though he really meant it. Talk about a shock to the system. She must have heard wrong. An apology from Potter, with no strings attached? It just didn't exist.

"Say that again Potter." Lily asked. James seemed surprised that she hadn't full out punched him, and he smiled gratefully.

"I'm sorry. Can we please just try to be … more nicer to each other from now on?"

Lily considered it for a moment. "Why should we? We don't like each other." But as she was saying that, she couldn't help but remember back to the afternoon, to how different it was when they had been friends.

"Well for the good of the school for one thing. I don't think Dumbledore appreciates us prefects fighting and not getting along. No work will get done." James answered quickly.

A few moments passed before Lily agreed, "Alright fine, I'll forgive you for this and only this. No more chances, and don't expect us to become friends or anything, I haven't lost my sanity yet … I just promise to be nicer."

James sighed in relief. "That's good enough for me. Without you trying to kill me around every corner is sure going to help." He joked.

And for the first time, Lily laughed with James joining in, not at her … but with her …

~*~

A/N: Yay, another chapter finished. I hope you all liked it, especially the part where Peter gets cereal dumped on his head. He he, oh the mental image of that happening makes me wanna laugh hysterically. I think that I like to pick on Amos a lot as well, don't I? Ah well it wont happen again. Anyway please, please REVIEW!! And now that I've finally finished all my work other than exams, I might even consider getting another chapter updated in the next few days. So if that isn't incentive to review more than I don't know what is. Ciao!

_I am on a roll. This is another redone chapter, though I did skim through it pretty quickly. Nothing much changed again, other than a couple of sentences here and there._


	6. Is ‘achieving the impossible’ just a myt...

**Title: **Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Spoilers: **Written before Ootp, HBP & DH but contains some spoilers.

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Forewords:** Hi, I'm back again after not updating for three days (I think). I was going to get this out by Saturday but I was bored (I had a long weekend) so I decided to get this out before I went to bed. I don't know if it's up to its usual standards but I hope you all like it! This chapter gives a little more insight into the Marauders and Lily.

* * *

**Diametrically Opposed**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

_Is Achieving the impossible just a myth, or is it true?_

_.._

"Oy James, would you mind removing your hand from my butt?" Sirius' voice popped up loudly, echoing in the empty and dark corridor. His body however did not accompany his voice and was nowhere to be seen in the corridor … or so people would seem.

The four Marauders were all currently hidden under James' invisibility cloak, and it was proving to be practically impossible for them to all successfully fit under it. Unfortunately, since first year, the boys had grown considerably (as one does, obviously) and they could no longer fit comfortably under it without some sort of 'dirty' incident as Sirius was just mumbling grumpily.

James immediately shifted his hand, screwing up his face in disgust.

"Like I'd actually mean to touch you _there,_ Sirius," he hissed back, causing Remus to nudge him and glare ("_Shhh_").

James sighed and scuffled his feet slowly. They weren't getting anywhere fast. Twice, they had had to decrease their pace, as Peter's short legs were unable to keep up.

"How long until we get there?" Peter complained softly, his view hindered by James and Sirius' tall forms.

James cast an impatient glance at Sirius, who looked just as put off by Peter's whining. They weren't usually deterred by Peter's attitude, but that afternoon in Divination, he had earned them all a detention with Filch by predicting that the four boys would be getting A's in their class for their next assignment. Professor Vasilkus hadn't been happy that he would assume such a thing would ever happen, and had said that they were mistreating their 'inner eye'. She had also said that if it were to be true, then it would most likely lean towards the fact that they would only gain this mark by cheating. Either way she put it, they were going to receive a detention.

It wasn't as though they weren't used to detentions (Sirius held the record for the most detentions appointed to a student in one year), but this particular detention was on the night of the next full moon, and that would mean they wouldn't be able to go through with their carefully thought out plan.

"It shouldn't be five minutes less than the last time I told you," whispered Sirius. He was about to add something else, but was stopped as Mrs Norris rounded a corner to face them.

The four boys stood stock-still in horror, watching as Mrs Norris slowly approached them. She opened her mouth (most likely to meow loudly), causing each of the Marauders to take off at a sprint, forgetting that the cloak no longer covered them all.

It would have been a funny sight for someone to see, as numerous body parts would appear now and then as if from thin air.

Just as they were cornered in one of the hallways with (for once) no way out, Mrs Norris' attention was suddenly diverted to another noise that was steadily growing louder. Arabella and Lily came into view, and Sirius chuckled unexpectedly, forgetting his own predicament.

"There is no way that they can talk their way out of this one. Filch will be coming any minute soon. All it takes is just one meow from that little furball and he will be here like a shot," he said quietly.

Remus growled quietly, his face frowning in concern. "We shouldn't let them get into trouble."

James silently agreed with Sirius, but Remus needn't have worried because Bella's next actions proved Sirius completely wrong. What she did went against any of the Marauder's beliefs. She stooped lower than any of the Marauders had stooped before …

… She befriended the enemy … she actually befriended Mrs Norris!

Not only that, but she treated it like it was one of her own cats. James scowled. It was known to everyone Bella's obsession in cats, but he never thought she would go _that_ far.

"As if that's going to work," Sirius scoffed, although he like the others were slightly miffed.

"Here's a good girl," Bella cooed, and Lily laughed softly as Mrs Norris actually purred. Sirius' jaw dropped down to the floor.

"Do you have to do this every time you see her Bella?" exclaimed Lily. Bella only laughed in reply, patting Mrs Norris for a few more moments.

"You have to admit though Lil, that we never get into trouble because of this lovely little pussycat," Bella finished with a sickening little gurgling noise as she patted Mrs Norris one more time, before standing up again. Smiling slightly, Bella reached into her pocket and pulled out a cat treat. She threw it around the corner, and Mrs Norris immediately ran after it … without a single meow for her owner.

"Now, let's go."

"I don't know how you convinced me to do this Bella," Lily moaned suddenly as Bella started to pull her along in the opposite direction that Mrs Norris had gone.

"It's quite easy to convince you, you're just too noble to let me go out here alone," Bella replied.

"Damn nobleness." Lily muttered darkly, but allowed herself to be dragged into the kitchens.

After the girls had left, the Marauders cautiously crept over to Moaning Mrytle's bathroom. Once in the safety of the bathroom, Sirius threw off the cloak with disgust.

"We have an invisibility cloak and nearly get caught, and all they do is feed the bloody cat and they've got free rein of the place!" he exclaimed loudly.

Remus chuckled suddenly, causing all three other Marauders to glare at him. He shrugged.

"What? I just find it funny that we never realised we could do that."

James spluttered indignantly. "Do that to – her? Are you kidding me! Mrs Norris is evil, look at all the times she has caught us for Merlin's sake! She's like … the spawn of Satan."

Peter thoughtfully tapped his finger on his chin before speaking up slyly, "I wonder what they were doing up at this time?"

Sirius caught on immediately and a manic grin lit up his face.

"We could always find out-" he started mischievously, but James interrupted with a loud growl.

"No, we wont find out. Not this time, no matter how tempting it is. We have been trying for over a year to get this to work, and now finally I am positive it's going to work. If you two would get your minds out of the gutter for just one moment we can actually help Remus here, alright?" he said impatiently.

Sirius and Peter nodded feebly, while Remus shifted uncomfortably. It was obvious that he felt guilty about all the time they had wasted working on becoming Animagi, when they could have been elsewhere and not bothering about him.

Sirius seemed to notice this. He glanced apologetically at Remus, before replying, "Sorry James, I agree with you. Nothing is as important as this right now. And I just know that this time we will get it right."

James nodded in a business-like manner, walking into the toilet cubicles to pull out a well-concealed cauldron.

"Right," he said, "I read the book again and it specifically states that _all_ we have to drink this potion. We don't need to think about what animal we want to be because it will choose for us. All our previous tries were useless without this potion working properly, as it is essential that the potion guides us into our forms for the very first time."

"Sorry James, but how do we know this is going to work? I mean it hasn't worked the last four times," Peter asked timidly.

"Peter I thought we've been through this already," Sirius sighed in exasperation.

"I know. I just don't get how this time is any different," Peter insisted stubbornly. "I don't appreciate having my insides turning to liquid like they almost did last time."

James cringed in shame. "That was my fault, I'm sorry. I've been reading the ingredients all wrong. Up until now, we've overlooked the key ingredient. Originally we thought it was Boulash eyes, right?"

The others nodded, except Sirius who already knew.

"Well it wasn't. In the holidays Sirius and I realised it was actually Koulash roots, so we bought some and now, we are about to put it in."

Remus cut in curiously, "So is this the ingredient that we have to wait for it to mix in or something? I mean most potions require a sitting period, before they can be used and that's what we did with the Boulash eyes."

Sirius nodded his head. "Yes, we read it carefully, but it is pretty easy to follow. All we have to do is put the shredded roots in, stir, and then let settle for seven days."

"Right, so here goes nothing …" James said, dropping the carefully shredded roots into the cauldron. They all watched it drop in, their breaths caught in their throat.

"Now we can stir and then leave it for a week," Sirius added, letting out his breath as he realised nothing out of the ordinary was going to happen.

The others followed his example, and they exhaled loudly, slightly disappointed that the potion still looked like a pile of sludge.

"And?" Peter prompted eagerly.

"And we go and see what those girls are up to," replied Sirius, cheekily grinning. "There's still time, and now that Evans and James here aren't at each others throats, we are able to spend more time with them. I for one am not going to pass up this fleeting opportunity."

James glared but smiled nonetheless. Sirius was right. Now that he and Evans had made a truce, all the fifth year Gryffindors had spent more time than usual together today, and although brief, it was noticeably more peaceful. The rest of the day's classes had gone smoothly, and it wasn't until the prefects meeting that they had had a few tiffs regarding point deductions … but, he thought, even that was without its usual edge, and it didn't result in its usual hexing, arguing session. An occasional slap on the arm, yes, but no boils growing on the face, or a black eye.

"Yes," James thought out loud, "Things are definitely improving. I guess even the impossible can be achieved."

* * *

"Bella, why did you have to insist that we get all this food?" Lily asked, her arms ladled with food galore as they quickly walked through the corridors and back to their common room. Bella took a while to answer as she had a chocolate éclair crammed into her mouth.

"Becaush, we are all shingle girlsh, and we need to have a girlsh night or sho Nell shays."

"Yeah well this is heavy and I don't know how much longer I can carry this … and if Nell suggested this, why couldn't she come?" complained Lily. Her arms were, as she had indicated to Bella, practically screaming for her to drop all the food, but a glare from Bella's direction reluctantly prompted her to resist the urge.

"Nell was busy arguing about Quidditch with Leah Jordon." Bella answered this time clearly, as she had swallowed the remains of the éclair.

Lily nodded in understanding. Leah Jordon was a sixth year Gryffindor, and commentator of all Quidditch matches. She never played, but her obsession about the sport was almost as bad as Sionell's and she never failed to suggest new plays to Sionell. Intense (but innocent, Sionell insisted) arguments were common between the two, and it was obvious that not even Bella would have dared to interrupt the two whilst they were at it.

"Alright fine, I see your point. Let's just hurry up and get back to the common room before Filch catches us. We can't _always_ bribe Mrs Norris," Lily remarked.

"Sure, Miss prefect, no problem," replied Bella before adding, "We can always move on to Filch next anyway."

Lily couldn't stifle the giggle that escaped from her mouth as she thought of Bella dangling a cat treat in front of Filch. It didn't help her situation at all when she looked over at Bella who had started to imitate Filch doing just that.

By the time they reached the fat lady's portrait, Lily was laughing hysterically, so it was up to Bella to give the password.

"Hypnos," Bella turned to look at Lily as they climbed through the portrait hole. "Let me guess Potter made another password?"

Lily nodded distastefully. "He's not very creative is he?"

"Thought you and him had made some sort of a truce?" Bella asked, walking through the common room. To their surprise it was almost empty, and nobody there even noticed that they were weighed down with food. Nonetheless, they didn't continue their conversation until they were safe in their dorm.

"We did, I still don't really like him though. Like he said, it's more for the good of the school." Lily said finally, pushing the door closed with her foot. With a sigh she dropped all the food onto her bed, and thought back to her prefect meeting.

It had surprisingly been pretty ordinary in respect to arguments with Potter. Her mood had improved more by the Head Girl and Boy's announcement.

..

**Flashback**

_The Head Girl, Lisa from Hufflepuff cleared her throat expectantly._

_"Now one last announcement to make, which I'm sure you will all be surprised to hear." She stopped and motioned for the Head Boy Michael to continue on._

_"Yes, for the first time in ten years, Hogwarts will be hosting a Christmas ball for fourth years and up."_

_A loud chorus of cheers emitted from the group of prefects, and it took a while for Lisa to quieten them all down. In the end, she resorted to shooting blue sparks from her wand into the air _

_"Typical Hufflepuff" James commented gruffly, who wasn't entirely pleased by a ball. He knew what kind of planning it would no doubt entail._

_"Every one of you is expected to help with the preparations and obviously as it is Christmas we have roughly two months and a bit to organise everything," Lisa said, raising her voice above the murmur of the group, which still hadn't completely died down._

_Lily was nudged by an excited Ravenclaw who squealed. "A Ball at Christmas, how much better can you get than that?" _

_To which Lily had replied happily, "Not much … it's going to be the best Christmas."_

**End** **Flashback**

..

Lily shook her head, and bit her tongue as she almost blurted it out to Bella. No one else other than the prefects and the staff had been told yet, until tomorrow morning at breakfast.

Bella returned Lily back to the present.

"I have to admit that Sionell and I were very shocked to see you and Potter re-entering the hall without him sporting some sort of black eye or some other visible injury," Bella observed, practically flinging her armfuls of food onto her own bed. "Slightly disappointed too."

"Who said I didn't hit him somewhere less conspicuous," Lily replied mysteriously.

Bella jumped up in shock. "You didn't?" she shrieked fervently. Laughing lightly, Lily shook her head.

"No, I was just joking, I would never do that … imagine all the disappointed girls out there if I did."

"Did what?" Sionell enquired, walking out of the bathroom with a towel over her head.

"Kicked Potter in the nuts," Bella answered bluntly, easily avoiding Lily who was attempting to slap her.

Sionell meanwhile had stopped drying her hair with her towel to face Lily with an astonished expression.

"If you'd done that, I don't reckon you would have lived to see tomorrow. Imagine all the girl's reactions," she said.

Lily and Bella looked at each other before they laughed.

"What?" Sionell demanded.

"That's what Lily was just saying too," Bella stated, reaching for another chocolate éclair.

"Enough with this immature talk already. Let's just get on with our girls night, alright?" Lily insisted stubbornly, pelting Bella with a bean from a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean box that had previously been hidden under her bed.

Bella ignored this suggestion, choosing to pelt Lily with her own beans. Soon an all-out bean war broke out between the three girls, and beans were flying everywhere as they ran around the room. It only ended when a stray bean was thrown in the door's direction, just as their door opened slowly.

A sharp, girly 'Owww!" alerted the girl's attention, and they unwillingly turned to face their inevitable detention. It was most likely that they had hit Professor McGonagall, who had obviously come to investigate their noise, so they were bound to be in big trouble, From her position on the ground beside her bed, Lily groaned inwardly, closing her eyes momentarily as she looked away. She really didn't want to see McGonagall's reaction.

An intake of breath from either Bella or Sionell prompted Lily to gulp anxiously, but her speculation was proved wrong when she heard the next voice.

"Well, aren't you going to invite us in? Or are you planning on pelting more beans at us?" Lily's eyes snapped open as she faced … the Marauders?

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, glaring at the four boys who were casually leaning by the door. Except Remus who was rubbing his head. He must have been the one to be hit, Lily mused. Bella wouldn't be happy. As Potter went to open his mouth, Lily added with a frown, "And _how _did you get here?"

Sirius, who had been the one that had spoken before, smiled convincingly as he sat on their dresser.

"What? You think the great Sirius Black and his fellow Marauders can be stopped by a mere obstacle?" he asked, in mock horror.

Sionell's reply to this was another flying bean headed in Sirius' direction. "First," she stated, narrowing her eyes at Sirius. "A fence or a wall is an _obstacle_. A staircase that has an unbreakable charm that collapses into a slide-"

"_And_ screams like a banshee." Arabella added, nodding and blushing slightly.

Sionell nodded in agreement, "Yeah and screaming like a banshee, whenever a member of the opposite sex so much as touches it. Now _that_ is _impenetrable_."

Sirius gestured smugly to his body. "Well obviously, we're here now, aren't we?"

"I wouldn't say all of you was here," Bella mumbled grumpily to Lily. "Seems you've been without a brain for quite a while."

Lily failed to choke back a laugh, and then bit her lip in embarrassment as she accidentally gained the attention of everyone. "Ok, well," she started, blushing as she tried to regain her composure, "Stop bragging about it, and just tell us how you did it."

"It was quite easy really," James drawled, stepping outside of the girl's dorm for a moment before re-entering with four brooms.

Lily dropped her jaw in shock and disbelief. "You were able to get up here by flying?" she gasped.

"Up the staircase was all we needed to fly over," James replied, patting his broomstick almost lovingly.

"-And of course over to where the hidden detection traps that trigger that horrid screaming … which we put a temporary silencing charm on by the way," Sirius added.

"How did you know to do all of this?" Bella asked curiously, albeit interestedly. Lily knew that Bella had previously tried snogging sessions with guys up in their dorm, but she could never get past the staircase before they'd gone sliding back down

Sirius coughed uncomfortably, "I – uh, happen to have done this sort of thing before," he answered, "Took me a while to figure it out exactly, but it - it's come in handy … and was well worth the wait." He finished with a foolish grin, which made the three girls look at each other in exasperation and the three boys sport the same expression.

Sionell cleared her throat. "Ok, now that we're now aware of all your little hobbies and whatnot, _I_ want to know _what_ you are doing here," she said, "As far as I'm aware of, you haven't come for any planned snogging sessions with any one of us."

Sirius stretched out elegantly, before setting his gaze onto Sionell. "Just wanted to see if you ladies needed any dashingly handsome knights in shining armour to save you from your impending doom with the flying beans," he replied alluringly, saying this all in one breath as he fluttered his eyelashes innocently.

Sionell gave a derisive snort. "Do we look like the kind of girls to be rescued?"

"Of course not, you're much too capable of doing that yourselves," Sirius reassured smoothly, covering up his mistake quickly.

James followed Sirius' example and shifted from his place in the doorway, to the dresser as he continued on.

"That's right, but how about a compromise? We help you with the beans, and you get to share our company."

"What a thrilling offer," Lily couldn't help but mumble.

Unexpectedly, Bella accepted their offer. Probably, because Remus was there still looking all injured and pathetic, Lily grumbled, allowing Sirius to snatch a pumpkin pastry from her bed.

Sure enough…

"Oh, you poor thing, I almost forgot. Come here Remus and let me see your head," Bella motioned sympathetically, glaring at Sionell, whose bean had been the one to hit Remus before. Remus flashed a grateful smile as he joined Bella, and in Lily's opinion, exaggerated the wince that followed as Bella examined the little bump.

"Honestly," Lily scoffed softly. Even though Remus was by far the most sensitive, he was still a guy, and he knew how to get his way.

"Pathetic, isn't he?" James remarked, leaning over to sit by Lily. She grudgingly shifted a couple of feet away, and James raised his eyebrows in amusement, "I don't bite you know."

"I know that," Lily snapped, before adding in a more softer tone, "I was uh sitting on a few beans."

"Sure you were," was the only reply from James as he munched on one of the fallen beans. "You know apart from the mountains of beans on the floor, your dorm is remarkably clean."

Sionell mock groaned as she pointed at Lily. "Blame it on Miss Drill Sergeant here. Although she hates for us to boss her around, she has no problem instructing us on how to clean a room properly."

"I only don't like you bossing me around in the mornings. You know how much I hate the mornings," Lily maintained reasonably, shrugging apologetically as she saw Peter wince.

"I'm sorry for the other morning by the way," Lily added pointedly.

Peter nodded. "No sweat." Although his face suggested otherwise.

Sirius took this as a chance to throw himself next to Sionell who was also on the ground by her own bed.

"So who are you two planning on going out for your weekly fling?" he asked curiously, his question obviously regarding Bella and Sionell, who glared back at him mockingly.

Lily cringed inwardly, and her eyes shifted their gaze down to the floor. As much as she loved her two best friends, she was slightly envious at how easy it was for them to find guys to go out with. And this was a natural occurrence for them, so it wasn't as though Lily wasn't used to it. It just reminded her of how hopeless she was with the opposite sex. It was times like these when she realised how out of the loop she seemed to be when compared with her friends.

James seemed to notice Lily's momentary silence, and he flicked a bit of cream at her. But she missed the movement, and abruptly stood up.

"I'm just- uh going to go down to the common room to read," Lily said quietly, avoiding her friend's gazes. She would never willingly tell them of her uncertainties of course, as she didn't want to come across as being petty or ungrateful for her life. She really was grateful for everything in her life and especially her friends, but still she couldn't help but wish for more … a boyfriend to share it with, for instance, would be nice.

"Why? I thought we were going to have a girls night?" Sionell asked, her face wrinkling in concern.

"Well, it's not really a girls night anymore is it?" Lily answered pointedly before hurriedly adding, "Not that I mind you guys here, you can stay. I just feel like - reading."

Lily didn't bother waiting for a response and she quickly grabbed her latest book before depressingly making her way back down to the common room. The least thing she could do to distract her from this pitiful state was to throw herself into her book.

Imagination really was everything sometimes.

* * *

**A/N:** I know, I know, this chapter had practically no point to it, but as my friends and I like to say, 'no point, just a story'. I was planning on adding some more that I've already written but I thought, I'd start it for the next chapter. Sniff, poor Lily! Well, hope you like it anyway and please review peoples. Constructive criticism is welcome as I'd really like any feedback. You can't improve if no one tells you what's wrong, can ya?

Ooh and I was curious to find which chapter the majority of you have liked so far. Please tell me in your reviews and I'll post the results to you in my next chapter. So far my favourites to have written have been chapter 2 and 5, so it's a tie between those for me, but only because they had humour in them.

Alright, this chapter has a considerable amount of new 'stuff' that I have written into it. I put it in there mainly to follow the OotP as much as possible and to spruce the story up a bit.

And here's to the following reviewers as usual:

**Zane Lupin:** _Glad that you're reviewing again like some other people. I liked the bit about Remus too, and it kinda showed that Peter was once again the weakling of the group, but it didn't affect their judgement on him, if you can understand me at all. It's 1:00 in the morning over here in Australia and I'm a tad tired. LOL. Anyway I thought it was fun to see what it would be like to have them not hating each other for a short time. Not only would it help them to make a truce, but to see what each of them are really like when they aren't ready to kill each other._

**Wo Ai Ni16:** _Thank you for reviewing again. Like with all of my reviews so far I'm really flattered that you like my story so far. I've really tried to make it different from all the other fics, and I hope that I've succeeded. And the idea of the hypnosis charms just hit me when I was thinking about their charms class. It wasn't supposed to be a big issue, but then when I started writing I got this crazy idea, and I thought who knows it might work!_

**Ivy Crane:** _Don't worry they aren't friends, nor will they be for a while. I know most fics tend to pop up with instant friendships between the two of them, but that's not gonna happen with mine (not that its bad mind you, I like some of those stories). Their friendship is going to progress slowly, and after they get to know each other more._

**BlueEyedWildmage:** _Sugar or not, I'm glad you found it funny and im thankful that you reviewed yet another one of my chapters. The next few chapters won't be that funny, so I thought I'd lighten things up with a bit more humour. And I haven't read any fics with hypnosis charms, and I don't even know how I came up with that idea._

**Charismatic Charm:** _Here is the next update, and I think your story is really good too! I reviewed it for ya!_

**KokoAstra:** _I'm blushing, thank you. I never imagined anyone would like my writing. I often find it's not really that extraordinary so it makes me feel really good when people like you compliment me :)_

**WolfMoon:** _Thank you! I'm happy you like my fic, keep reading, it will get better (I hope). And I will update it regularly as I've said before to other reviewers so I wont keep everyone waiting too long for updates._


	7. More problems and celebrations

DESTINED TO BE 

Summary: Lily Evans and James Potter never hit it off from the day they met at Hogwarts. Five years down the track, and they've managed to up the level of mutual differences to pure hatred. What will happen when they gain insights on each other in the most important years of their lives? Are they really 'Destined to be?'

Forewords:

Hi everybody, sorry for taking so long in updating again, but I've been pretty busy this week. Saw matrix reloaded last night, it was wikid! Damn, Keanu Reeves is hot, anyway moving on.

Was it just me or was fanfiction not working this week either? I received alerts for reviews in my email, but when I went onto the website there was nothing as well. Ah well.

Just wanted to say that the next chapter will probably come out just before the new harry potter book comes out, so that some people will actually read it. Talking about the new book, I pre-ordered it the other day! Yippeee cant wait. Unfortunately this means that not many people will be coming on here that much for a while, and this will probably turn out to be AU fic. I'll still keep on writing though. 

Here's to the following reviewers:

Zane Lupin: He he, I liked that comment too. Glad someone else enjoys my twisted attempts at humour. And about the potion, well I thought it would be different, but I didn't really state that for the past three years they had been trying to become animagi without the potion, which obviously hasn't worked. Then they tried the potion but it didn't work. Anyway, that's saying too much, I'll probably put more explanations in the next chapter.

Ivy Crane: Yeah, if you go back to the second chapter I hinted that Arabella had a slight crush on Remus. Last chapter I just reinforced that by showing how Bella treats him.

BlueEyedwildMage: Thanks, but I guess you wont be happy with me this week. It took me a whole week to update. Sorry about that!

Umm I'm sorry there were three other reviewers, but I only have their names on my email, so I'll thank them next chapter. Sorry about that.

CHAPTER SEVEN

~More problems and celebrations~

After Lily left the room, silence arose between the group. Bella and Sionell shared a knowing, but guilty glance. They knew that Lily was insecure about her non-existent relationship with guys, but she was too stubborn to admit it outright. 

"Why on earth does she always have to read?" Sirius exclaimed finally.

Sionell shook her head. "Don't assume you know everything about Lily, or you'll find yourself coming up short."

"What do you mean?" James asked who had originally thought he had said something wrong. He usually did, so it was intriguing to him that there was something other than him that could get to Lily.

"It's nothing Potter, don't you recall a previous conversation we had telling you to butt out of other people's business." Bella snapped.

"Oh come off it, you can't say that nothing is wrong with her. Its obvious there is." Remus interrupted sceptically, successfully shifting Bella's attention away from James who was frowning. 

Sionell sighed. Remus was a friend of Lily's and she felt bad keeping things from him. "It's nothing really, Lily just gets a bit depressed when we start talking about our constant relationships."

"Why, is she-?"

Bella and Sionell shouted in alarm. "NO Sirius!" and then Sionell added reluctantly, "She thinks we don't notice, but its obvious that she wants a boyfriend like we do every week. Don't you notice that she has never had a boyfriend?"

James flinched involuntarily remembering back to what he had said to her. No wonder it had gotten to her so much. . .He had really cut deep.  

Peter shrugged. "Yeah but we always thought it was because of her studies. They always seem to keep her busy."

"I'll be right back." James cut in suddenly, already heading for the door. For some reason he felt that Lily should have some company other than her books.

"James, where are you goi-?" A voice followed him, but he shut the door, ignoring it, and intent on finding Lily. When he did see her by the fireplace in the common room, he couldn't help but smile. Once again she was curled up reading the same book he had seen in her hands since the beginning of the school term.

"Don't tell me your reading that book _again_?" asked James, snatching the book from Lily's hands as he reached her. Lily sighed, knowing that it was useless to try and get it back from him.

"Yes, I am, not that its any of your business." Answered Lily, leaning back into the couch.

"Well what part are you up to, let's see…ah here it is…ahem" James cleared his throat and continued on in a deep voice.

" … and he leaned in to gently kiss her on the forehead, before placing her back on her bed.

_'Sleep well my princess, for I will be here with you again.' The mysterious man said. The princess stirred slightly and opened her eyes sleepily._

_'So you are real then, my love.' She smiled and raised her hand to caress his cheek._

_'Yes, and I will see you again tomorrow night, and the night after that, because a night without you wouldn't be worth living.' And with that he disappeared into the shadows, and the princess fell into a contented slumber, her last thought being I'll see him again."_  

Fighting the urge to gag, James finally decided to stop it there, to look incredulously at Lily.

"You like this romantic stuff?" Lily took this opportunity to snatch the book back.

"Yes, is that so hard to believe? I am a girl after all." Replied Lily, sarcastically.

"I know, but you don't strike me as that type of girl. Trust me I've had experience with girls and you just don't fit the profile." He stated, in a matter-of-fact tone. Lily coolly raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" she drawled. "Well I was under the impression that most of your girlfriends were just brainless, so I don't think that YOU would really have experience in knowing what I think like." To Lily's surprise, James laughed at this comment.

"Yeah you could be right on that one." He grudgingly admitted.

"So why don't you go out on dates with guys then? It's obvious that you do want a boyfriend." James asked. Lily shrugged.

"Nobody ever asks." She said nonchalantly, trying to act as though she didn't care in the slightest. 

James didn't buy it. The conversation upstairs with Sionell and Arabella had just contradicted what she had said anyway.

"Sure, but it doesn't mean nobody doesn't want to." He said reassuringly. Lily was surprised at James' new attitude, but didn't say anything about it. She shrugged it off.

"How do you know? Since when did you become an expert on this sort of thing? You can't even keep a relationship for more than a week." She retorted. James shrugged, grinning impishly.

"Call it a man's intuition, if you must, but I do know guys that would love to go out with you." He said. Lily narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not a charity case, if the right guy is out there for me, we'll find each other. It's destined to be eventually." She said dreamily.

"I never knew you that you believed in this destiny crap either. I mean don't you hate anything to do with divination and astrology?"

Lily paused thoughtfully, before answering. Truthfully she hadn't thought of it that way.

"Yes. . .but I don't believe destiny has anything to do with the alignment of planets, or the remains left in your tea bags. I just believe that everybody has someone else out there for them, their equal in other words, and that someday they will find each other. My parents did."

"Seems like another one has been befuddled by love." Joked James, but then sobered up. 

"Have you considered a date for the ball yet?"

Lily shook her head, laughing. "James, most of the school's population other than us prefects don't know about the ball at this late stage. I haven't even given a thought to who I want to go with. Not that it would matter much anyway, no one would bother asking me." 

"Well why don't you go to the ball with me?" asked James, suddenly. Lily's head jerked up.

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"Well to save you from fretting about getting a date at the last minute, and I thought you'd want one." He explained.

"So you just asked me out of _pity_?" Lily asked incredulously. James gulped, realising the mess he had just gotten himself into.

"No, I didn't mean it li-"

"A PITY date." She repeated, her voice a notch shriller. "I can't believe you Potter, just when I think your alright, you go and pull a stunt like this, and your back to being a complete jerk." 

"Well what's wrong with me asking to go with you?" he asked.

"You only asked because you felt sorry for me, and you don't even realise that Emily Johnson will want you to ask her when she finds out. You know her, don't you? Your current girlfriend, remember." She added sarcastically.

James bristled at her tone and stood up abruptly.

"I _thought_ I was doing you a favour Evans." He snapped. Lily slammed her book down on the couch and stood up too. Unfortunately for her, James had quite a height advantage and she was forced to crane her neck upwards. Nevertheless, she crossly placed both hands on her hips, a gesture James knew meant trouble. But at that moment he didn't care.

"A favour? Is that what you call a favour? You just like throwing in my face the fact that I cant manage to get a date on my own! You're absolutely incorrigible, not to mention utterly delusional if you would think for one microsecond that I would even _consider_ going with you." Lily spat out bitterly.

James took a step closer to her, so that they were only centimetres away from each other.

"Well don't think that it will happen again, Evans. I just realised I wouldn't want to waste a perfectly good chance to have a date that doesn't make my life miserable. Forget our truce, I knew it wouldn't last, not with you." He retorted, letting out a frustrated huff of laugher, before turning away to go to bed.

Lily collapsed back onto the couch. She was on the verge of tears, but she had promised herself that she would not cry over Potter, not since that incident in first year. Instead Lily shakily drew in a breath, and picked up her book again. She cursed under her breath when she realised she had lost her place.

"Great … just great." She mumbled.

"Can life _get_ any better?"

~*~

James stormed into his own dorm, not bothering to return to his friends who were most likely enjoying their night.

"How does she manage to get to me so much?" he cried out loud in frustration.

"Maybe because she's different from any girl you've met before?" A voice suggested from the bathroom door. James turned to find Remus guarding him with a solemn expression.

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd enjoy spending time with Arabella?" he enquired. It was a secret amongst the guys that Remus had a soft spot for Bella. She was one of the girls that James and Sirius had steered clear from, purely out of respect for Remus.

"I was feeling a bit woozy from the bean that hit me before." Remus joked, although his tired tone suggested otherwise.

James sighed apologetically, guessing the unspoken reason. "Sorry mate, it completely slipped my mind that you need the extra sleep around this time."

"Hey, don't worry about it. It just gives me an extra chance to lecture you about treating Lily better." replied Remus, sitting onto the edge of his bed.

"Remus." James grunted.

"I know, I'm sorry for doing this again, and I know you mean well, but just try and keep your emotions in check when your talking to her. Lily isn't just going to sit down and take your crap, not like all the other girls around here do."

"But I tried Remus. I wanted to cheer her up, and it worked for a while. It's just I say one word wrong and Lily jumps at the chance to rip my head off. I don't know wh-"

A voice interrupted their conversation as the door swung open.

"I can't believe you forgot that Arabella and I were still there Sirius!"  Peter cried, both hands planted firmly over his eyes. It was a wonder he had managed to find his way back into the dorm, James marvelled silently. Remus sent him a silent look that meant that they would continue their conversation later.

Sirius was unusually red as he followed Peter through the door. 

"I'm sorry, I. . .got distracted." He explained feebly.

Peter spluttered, his mouth opening and closing before he answered dryly, "I know that. Arabella knows that. It was IMPOSSIBLE to miss!" he finished with a shout.

If it was possible Sirius went even redder at this comment, and was for once rendered speechless.

"What did he do Pete?" James asked in wonder.

"He snogged Sionell right in front of me!"

"Why is it so disgusting? I thought you'd be used to it with him by now Peter." Remus asked, his mouth crinkling in amusement as he flashed a look in Sirius' direction.

Peter looked scandalised as he answered shrilly. "I'm not a prude but there is the small fact that we were all in the MIDDLE of playing exploding snap, and out of nowhere they start snogging passionately right in front of ME on the cards! I'll never look at another exploding snap deck the same ever again. . .not after seeing the things they were doing on it! First he-"

"Well I guess we now know who both of their conquests will be for this week." James joked to Sirius, desperately trying to stop Peter from continuing on in detail.

Sirius grunted in agreement as he climbed into bed.

"I don't mind, one week sounds good to me."

Remus sighed loudly as he turned the lights out. "Don't set your goals so high Sirius, you might not be able to achieve them. . ." he drawled sarcastically, before muttering a cheery "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." James replied back laughingly. Remus always had the right thing to say to them to put them back into their place. For someone who turned into a full fledged monster once a month, Remus sure had more understanding of human emotions than anyone else he had ever met before.

~*~

Two weeks passed by uneventfully for Lily and James, but only because they steered well clear of each other. Occasionally, (as it was bound to happen once or twice) they would bump into each other, and it would be a tense moment for their friends, especially Sirius and Sionell who unusually had managed to stay together past the traditional one-week mark.

The Marauder's detention with Filch went by rather quickly as well, the only drawback missing out on Remus' transformation. They hadn't yet had enough time to test the potion but would be doing so after the Gryffindor match as James was proving to be quite the obsessive captain he was rumoured to be.

From the moment it was announced at breakfast, the Ball was obviously on everyone's minds. For girls, it was a matter of obtaining dress robes, and other accessories; jewellery, shoes and guys were the most important (of course!). For guys, it was trying to worm out of wearing dress robes, and finding a date who wasn't obsessed in matching colours.

For Lily though it was another matter. She couldn't afford to bother with new robes or expensive accessories, as her parents were still stewing over the letter incident. The letter she had received back from her parents wasn't exactly pleasant but they had accepted her apology. Unfortunately they still refused to send her any money for the Ball until after her birthday so Lily was stuck with hardly anything for the time being. Petunia obviously had planned that stupid letter to coincide with Lily's birthday, (which would be coming up in a month's time November 22) so that she couldn't ask for anymore money.  

Lily had no time to brood over that though, as her mind was plenty occupied with planning the Ball and controlling the Gryffindors for the upcoming Quidditch match.

It was this Quidditch game played on Friday in the middle of October that stood out for most Gryffindors. It was the first Quidditch match of the season and was against Hufflepuff. As Sionell was on the team, she and Bella had forced Lily to join in and support their team in the stands that day. 

To say the least, Lily was not an avid supporter of Quidditch. One of the main reasons was that she was dead scared of heights and watching people swooping on flimsy looking brooms did nothing to steady her fluttery heart. Many times she had watched Potter diving fifty metres to the ground only to pull up at the last possible moment smiling smugly. His deliberate death attempts (in her opinion) did not go unnoticed by Lily and even though she couldn't stand the little prat, she still would never wish any SERIOUS injuries on him.

The only thing that Lily enjoyed about Quidditch was the snitch. If it wasn't for the fact that she would have to catch it whilst in the air, she would have no problem attempting to play the position of seeker. Of course there was also the little unpleasant fact that watching the snitch meant that she would have to watch Potter and that did not rest to well with her. He had enough eyes on him already without her as well, Lily thought resentfully, walking slowly over to the Quidditch pitch. Arabella had left five minutes before her to find a good seat in the stands. Let's hope it wasn't anywhere near- 

"Hey Lily over here!" A voice on the topmost of the stands caught her attention and she saw Arabella waving excitedly. 

-the top.

Lily's heart missed a beat, but she forced a smile. Trust Bella to forget about her little issue with heights! Gingerly stepping onto the first staircase and gritting her teeth hard, Lily kept her gaze carefully positioned so that she couldn't see her over the edge. Potter better catch that damn snitch so that Gryffindor win quickly, otherwise she would never come back again, Lily promised herself fiercely.

Lily finally reached the top and sat in the seat that Bella had saved for her.

"Took you long enough." Bella commented, not in the slightest bit unnerved by the deathly glare Lily was sending her.

"Heights." Lily gruffly replied, and Bella grimaced apologetically.

"Sorry."

Lily hrmphed and sat back in her chair. At least she did have a better view, if she forgot how high she was sitting for a few moments. . .which unfortunately she couldn't. Lily grimaced and decided to instead focus on something else, so she tuned in to listen to the commentator Leah Jordan.

"-And here come the Hufflepuff team now. Led by the captain Diggory, then Flinch-Fletchley, Davis, Moore, Fout, Runt (Leah stopped to snigger "That's for sure" – "MISS JORDAN" McGonagall wasn't happy.) alright, umm where was I? Oh yes and last but not least Reswood."

The Hufflepuff team flew out onto the pitch, Runt staring red-faced at the smirking Leah who waved cheerily.

"Right well, here come the team I know you've all been waiting for-"

McGonagall's voice could once again be easily heard alongside Leah's.

"Miss Jordan, stop with those biased comments or else I''ll find someone else to-"

"Alright Professor, I was just stating a fact. . .sorry! Anyway here comes Black, Prewitt, Wood, Grant, Spinnet, Carter and their captain Potter. Not only has Potter been the most dedicated captain in recent years, but also the most sexiest! Sorry! (McGonagall had attempted to angrily snatch it away from Leah [A/N: Sorry she sounds familiar doesn't she?]) 

"-That isn't to say Grant isn't damn fine too. If you lean to the left, you can almost see his-"

"MISS JORDAN! IF YOU EVEN THINK OF FINISHING THAT SENTENCE I PROMISE THAT YOU WONT EVEN SEE ANOTHER QUIDDITCH MATCH!"

"I wasn't going to say THAT, I was going to say full view of his broom. Sheesh. At least we all know where McGonagall's mind lies hey? Eeek."

McGonagall had lunged for the microphone but Leah managed to dodge away.

"Sorry, promise it wont happen again, look Professor Kinkle is about to throw the quaffle in."

Lily shut her eyes momentarily and fought to hold back her queasiness as the whistle blew and all the players rose into the air.

"This game better finish quickly."

~*~

"Gryffindor rule!" were the shouts from the Gryffindors as they all made their way back to their common room for celebrations. From the cheers of the crowd, it was obvious to say that Gryffindor had won, and to Lily's immense relief, the game had only lasted a short while. Potter had managed to catch the snitch within an hour so she was spared thankfully from having to spend more time up so high.

"250 to 60, bloody brilliant!" Sirius could be heard roaring, swinging his bat around in happiness.

Peter nodded in agreement, smiling evilly. "And did you see Diggory's face when James swooped in front of him to grab the snitch? It was priceless!"

Lily had to laugh, catching Peter's comment as she trailed behind the crowd. Bella and Sionell were beside her, and Sionell was grinning from ear to ear as she animatedly replayed the events of the game.

"-And now we can celebrate all weekend! I mean we are now in first position points wise, since Slytherin only beat Ravenclaw by 40 points last week!" Sionell finished, practically jumping through the portrait hole.

Lily was the last to follow and she ruefully shook her head. There was no way she could finish her book in the common room tonight. The party was surely going to last through most of the night. Talk about premature celebrations, they still had two more matches to go!

~*~

"James my buddy, how does it feel to be a winning captain again?" Sirius asked, cheerfully hanging an arm around his best friend.

"Not much different than it usually does Sirius my man, as we always win." James cockily replied, smiling at some 6th year Gryffindors who were walking past congratulating him. He had recently broken up with his current Hufflepuff girlfriend for obvious reasons, so he was now single again.

Lily who was walking past with some butterbeers, snorted loudly as she went to join her friends.

"What's her problem?"

~*~

"I'm going to go upstairs and read." Lily stated after four hours of celebration. The party had started to get slightly rowdier and she wasn't keen on following Bella and Sionell and playing their absolutely ridiculous and raunchy games anymore.

Bella looked scandalised as she almost spat out the contents of her butterbeer.

"You can't leave now, the party's almost beginning!"

"I can and I will. I don't feel like sitting here playing anymore ridiculous games and replaying the match for the twentieth time." Lily replied firmly, already standing up.

She said goodnight to her protesting friends and she walked passed the Marauders who were playing a rather humorous game of exploding snap. Sirius' eyebrows had just gone up in flames as a result of Remus who was grinning triumphantly. Lily shook her head, and tutted disapprovingly as she walked up the stairs into her dorm to read.

Bella turned to Sionell as Lily disappeared upstairs. "We have got to get her to loosen up somehow."

Sionell nodded attentively and suggested. "How about we plan a party for her birthday? It's coming up soon."

"Good idea, that's sure to stop her from working." Bella agreed eagerly.

~*~

In the midst of placing down a card, James' eyes caught Lily walking up the stairs.

"She's not leaving already is she?" he gasped indignantly. Sirius looked up, his remaining eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"Looks that way doesn't it?"

Remus elbowed James sharply in the ribs. "There's nothing wrong with leaving early. Lily's been real busy lately, so she's probably just catching up on sleep or something."

"Leaving early from a party." James repeated softly under his breath so that Remus couldn't hear him. "What planet is she from?"

~*~

A/N: Right well that's chapter 7 for you all. Hope its ok. It's going to get better next chapter. Lily's birthday and finding a date are just a few titbits of what's going to happen next.

Please continue reviewing and tell me which chapter you have all enjoyed the most so far.


	8. Big time trouble

**Title:** Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Spoilers: **Written before Ootp, HBP and DH, but contains some spoilers.

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Forewords:** I am SO sorry I haven't updated in such a looong time. I had a few reasons for this. One, most obviously is that I wanted to spend time reading the OotP of course, but also because I have had exams. I finished my last one yesterday. Yippeeee! Holidays for a month!

For a while I was even contemplating to stop writing this story, especially after I read the book. Some things (which will remain nameless for the people that haven't read it yet) really depressed me in the book and for a while it pained me to write any fanfiction even remotely connected to Harry Potter. I probably even spent three days after, practically bawling my eyes out thinking about the character death *wipes away a tear*. Oh crap I've started again.

Anyway, the book has also contradicted a few things I've already put into my story and I'm sorry, but to change it, will ruin my storyline. So apart from the whole prefect thing and Snape's current behaviour, I will attempt to keep it within what really happened. I am glad that we finally found that their relationship really was LOVE/HATE though. How terrific!

Ok well here's the next chapter, and I'm still not sure if I will continue writing this story. Please tell me if you think I should continue, start over or just stop completely!

* * *

**Diametrically Opposed **

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

_Big Time Trouble_

_.._

Two mornings later on Sunday, the Quidditch celebrations had finally come to an end. For the first time, the common room was silent; there having been a mass exodus to the dorm rooms after the last of the butterbeer bottles had been emptied.

Lily was found alone, desperately cleaning up the disaster area that remained, which no longer bore any resemblance to the common room that existed three days earlier.

Gold and red streamers had been thrown over every available surface, including the portraits who voiced their discontent every time Lily had the misfortune of meeting their irritated gazes. Rubbish had been flung everywhere; empty butterbeer bottles and candy wrappers stashed in every which corner, and also the odd Quidditch gear left behind by the players, which only added a distinctly unpleasant aroma to the room. Even the furniture had been shifted around. The couch that used to face the fireplace had been flipped upside down for some strange reason that Lily could not even begin to comprehend. She vaguely remembered Sirius declaring it a hot spot for the ladies at one point, but didn't really want to think any further about that. She'd already spent half an hour repairing the massive tears in their curtains that some idiot had made after attempting to perform a trapeze act at one point of the celebrations, and wasn't impressed.

Now, Lily was crawling on her hands and knees, summoning all the empty bottles and candy wrappers from within and underneath the couches. It was safe to say that Lily's mood was not even remotely like the spectacular sunrise, which had filled the room with a glorious crimson glow an hour before.

In fact, Lily's temper was leaning dangerously close to the 'kill or destroy' mode, especially when a hidden dungbomb came flying out from under the couch, and instantly exploded in front of her.

For what had to be the umpteenth time, Lily let out a string of violent curses that should never have been heard coming from her mouth. She herself couldn't figure out exactly _where_ she'd heard them before, but she had a good idea _who_ from.

She finished off her cursing with, "… That damn _POTTER_!"

Of course that's what it always led to, Lily thought resentfully. That POTTER. She was the one forced to clean up before Professor McGonagall came to inspect the room that afternoon, but Potter and his Quidditch goons were the ones responsible for making it! She certainly hadn't been part of it, but her sense of responsibility and conscience had her on her hands and knees downstairs amongst the clutter, whilst Potter and the others were too busy catching up on their lost sleep.

"But they weren't so concerned about their beauty sleep whilst celebrating all weekend, were they?" Lily grumbled aloud, standing up to levitate the overflowing bag of rubbish and forcefully shove it into the bin. Cleaning herself up would have to be done last, she decided, albeit reluctantly.

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness you know."

Lily flushed in anger, ready to retaliate with her wand as she turned to the figure that was standing at the foot of the stairs. Seeing it was only Remus who looked pale and tired, her anger dissipated. She could only offer a half-hearted shrug in reply before turning back to her cleaning.

"I'm already insane," Lily replied eventually, a sour smile lingering on her face.

Remus' eyebrows shot up in amusement and Lily put on a pained expression.

"I can't help it. Spending all this time in proximity with Potter has definitely frazzled my nerves these past five years," she explained, making Remus laugh.

"Well, I must be absolutely loopy by now, seeing as I spend practically all my time with him," he stated matter-of-factly, pulling out his wand to banish the lingering smell of Dungbombs.

Lily smiled thankfully in return. At least there was one Marauder she could count on. "Thanks, but you don't really need to help, Remus. You didn't make half of the mess that your friends did, and you don't look too well anyway."

Remus shrugged it off with a careless wave, and he continued to help with the cleaning.

"Neither did you."

"I'm a prefect though, so I'm responsible for this mess no matter what," she smiled wanly.

Remus looked around until his eyes rested on James' arm guards, which had carelessly been thrown onto one of the couches. "So is James, but I don't see him lending a hand," he pointed out.

"Don't think I haven't noticed _that_ little fact," Lily scowled, flicking her wand over so the couch flipped back onto his proper side, "but I can't afford to lose my position because he isn't pulling his weight."

"I doubt you will lose your prefect badge over this," Remus replied reassuringly.

Lily sighed. "You're right … I probably won't, but I really don't want to cause any trouble. My parents are furious with me as it is, and if they caught even an inkling of me shirking my duties, I'd never see daylight again."

"Oh - I uh … heard about that," Remus said hesitantly. "If you don't mind me asking, what … exactly happened?"

Lily sank into the nearest couch before replying, "Just my delightful sister causing more rifts in the family, is all. Somehow she managed to think up a scheme, which would not only get me in the bad books with my parents, but also make me lose out on any possibility of an allowance until after my birthday."

"When's your birthday?" asked Remus, absently tapping his wand on his chin.

"November 22," Lily wearily replied.

"Really?" Remus exclaimed. "That's so soon. Why didn't I ever know your birthday was during school?"

"Because I never wanted a party or anything," Lily patiently explained. "Spending time with my closest friends is enough."

Feeling tired and slightly embarrassed of talking about herself with Remus, Lily hopped back up and quickly corrected the rest of the furniture.

Remus obviously sensed her reluctance to continue the conversation, and he continued to clean the room in silence, although he appeared to be deep in thought. One hour later, when people were starting to sleepily emerge from their dorms for breakfast, Lily and Remus finally finished.

"_Phew_," breathed Lily, wiping her sweaty face with one of her hands. Catching a look of her reflection in one of the now spotless windowpanes, Lily frowned at her scraggly appearance.

"I think I need a shower," she announced to Remus, who had sunk down onto the nearest couch.

Remus nodded in reply, closing his eyes as he leant back to relax. As Lily walked over to the stairs, she stopped to turn back to Remus.

"And thanks," she smiled, mischievously adding, "Loopy Lupin…"

Caught off-guard with this comment, Remus' eyes opened with a start, until he regained his composure and chuckled. "No problem at all, Lily … no problem at all."

* * *

James jerked awake as a loud snore resounded through the room. He had a splitting head-ache from the weekend of partying, and the monstrous noise reverberating throughout the dorm was doing nothing to improve that.

Bloody Peter, he cursed inwardly, throwing his pillow over in the other boy's direction.

Without bothering to open his eyes to see if he had hit his target, James pulled the covers over his head, then sighed in satisfaction as the snoring abruptly cut off. Unfortunately, that was no-where near as satisfying as it would have been without this headache, he thought, as the pounding in his head continued mercifully. It was impossible to go back to sleep now.

He moaned pitifully and rolled over onto his side, slowly opening his eyes. After his eyes had painfully adjusted to the sunlight, James noticed that Remus' bed was empty, Sirius was still sleeping, and amazingly so was Peter (although James' pillow had landed on top of Peter's head so the snoring was now reduced drastically).

James flicked his eyes over to his clock, and saw that breakfast had been available for fifteen minutes. Of course, being the growing boy he was, his hunger pains outweighed the headache, so he reluctantly dragged himself out of bed and pulled on some clothes. For a while, he considered waking up Sirius, but remembering past experiences in that same situation, James cleverly avoided him. Peter was also a no-hope, as James had no desire to wake up someone who would tail his every move, which was what Peter kept on doing recently. Sure he liked the attention and all, who wouldn't, but he did need someone who didn't agree with everything he said occasionally!

He walked through the common room, too spaced out to realise that it was back to normal. The rest of the trip to the Great Hall was quite the same. With his eyes only half-open, he didn't really notice all that much until he finally walked inside.

It came as no surprise to James that Remus was already inside eating breakfast. What came as a surprise was the fact that he was whispering heatedly with Evan's friends, Arabella and Sionell. The traces of James' sleepiness vanished as curiosity crept up instead, and James quickly strode over to them.

"What's going on?" he asked bluntly, ignoring the jolt that went straight to his aching head as he slid in beside Remus.

The three shared an uneasy glance before Remus answered, "Nothing."

James wasn't easily deterred and he decided to try another approach. Knowing that this would ruffle a few of Remus' feathers, he asked slyly, "Does it have anything to do with the fact that you were missing from your bed this morning?"

"He was helping Lily clean up YOUR mess this morning," Bella retorted, before Remus could answer.

James couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at this.

"You were with Evans?" he asked edgily.

For some strange reason, it irked him that Remus was spending so much time with Evans. Of course it could be because of that little incident in the common room where she had simultaneously rejected and insulted him, but it felt like something more. He just hadn't figured out what yet.

James frowned as he poured himself some pumpkin juice, recalling that night. Even though it was an impulsive, unthought about request to ask her in the first place, he was slightly put off. Actually correct that, not slightly, he was _really_ put off. So put off in fact that he had been too ashamed to tell anyone afterwards that he had asked her. Shaking his head fiercely, he turned back waiting for Remus to respond.

"Yes," Remus answered plainly, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards as though he thought something was funny. This only made James testier and a sudden thought popped up in his mind that made him suspect that Remus knew about what had happened anyway.

"I thought you told me you didn't fancy Evans? Because it seems to me that you're going out of your way to help her lately," James replied viciously, making Remus flush in embarrassment.

"And I thought I told you already she's just a friend," stated Remus, a hint of irritation creeping into his tone.

"Then what were you three whispering about?" asked James, exasperatedly.

Sionell sighed, placing a hand on Arabella's shoulder to restrain her from attacking James ("Why does he have to be so damn nosy?").

"We were just considering an idea that Bella had the other night."

James waited expectantly for Sionell to elaborate, but the other three continued on with their breakfast. He sighed impatiently. "Well spit it out then."

Remus turned his head to look at James with annoyance. "We're trying to plan a surprise party for Lily."

James' initial thought was _'is_ _that_ _all_?'

"Is that all?"

Stunned, James looked at Bella. Oops, he must have said that aloud. He hastily tried to calm her down.

"What I meant was, is that the only reason for all the secrecy, because it was as though you were treating it as something much more serious."

"Whatever Potter, just don't go and screw it up by telling her," said Bella.

"Telling who?"

Bella snapped her head around her in alarm, her mouth gaping open as Lily appeared behind them. Sionell and Remus were just as equally struck speechless so James decided to cut in.

"Shouldn't you be taking your own advice and keep your nose out of other people's business?" he smirked, casually leaning back from the table. "And anyway don't assume everything is always about you."

Lily's eyes narrowed dangerously, words (not altogether nice) already on the tip of her tongue, but James smoothly continued on. It was obvious that a fight would be inevitable anyway, so he decided to get in a few good words before she hexed him.

"So is there anything in particular you'd like to screech to me about today? Because I seem to have misplaced my earmuffs, so that means I would actually have to listen to you."

"SCREECH?"

James shot her a mock apologetic look. "Sorry wrong word, maybe whine then?"

"WHINE?" At this point Lily's fingers had already reached inside her pocket for her wand. James, however didn't care, his mind was focused on some more retorts. This somehow was feeling quite therapeutic for him, and Lily was looking quite comical with her green eyes flashing with anger.

Lily wasn't feeling comical though. Her hands were practically itching to take her wand out and she was breathing quite fast. He was practically asking to get hexed, and she was quite eager to provide, but she didn't want to seem out of control in front of everyone.

"I have other words to describe your lovely voice, but maybe you'd care to add a few of your own? Yowling? Wailing perhaps?"

That next comment completely wiped any indecision out of her mind.

* * *

"Ow!"

Sirius stifled a laugh as James crashed into the fourth successive wall. Sirius (who had walked into the Great Hall during the beginning of the argument) was on one side of James, Remus on the other, and they were both attempting to lead him to the hospital wing without directly looking at his face.

"There's no use trying to hold back your laughter," James snapped irritably. "I can see both of you quite clearly."

This time Remus snorted, and Sirius couldn't help the howl of laughter that escaped. It was true that James could see them. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that he could see them perfectly whilst they were beside him, but not actually standing in front of him.

James sighed regrettably. He was right when he guessed Lily would end up hexing him, but he never thought it would be this bad. Lily hadn't even contributed to the argument before ingeniously managing to translocate James' eyes to the position of his ears, and vice versa. Although thoroughly pissed at Evans, he had to admire her Transfiguration work. It was, after all quite flawless. At least she didn't transfigure . . . anything else on his body.

That slight admiration vanished when James walked into the second knight in amour. A growing sense of anger overrode the pain of the collision, most of it directed towards a certain red-haired minx, not to mention his two supposed friends who …

"…Can't even lead me to the hospital wing properly," he finished the last bit aloud, narrowly missing yet another wall.

"Maybe we should just make you walk sideways then…" Sirius suggested, with an amazingly straight face, James thought. "… That way at least you can use one of your eyes to see in front of you, and one to see your - _behind_."

Ah, so that was it. James scowled but it didn't have the desired affect, as his ears wiggled in response. Sirius didn't bother to hide his amusement this time, and it seemed like hours had passed before they finally reached the hospital wing. Remus called out for Madam Pomfrey whilst Sirius led a very disgruntled James to a nearby bed.

Almost immediately, Madam Pomfrey appeared from the office, her eyes flashing in recognition at the boys in front of her, although James was currently hidden from her view.

"So what seems to be the problem this time, boys? I dare say it…"

Sirius shifted aside to reveal James' face.

"… Oh, my."

* * *

"Another detention, Lily? That's got to be a record," Bella remarked as the three girls walked to Potions. Sionell and Bella had only moments before stopped laughing at the sight of Potter's new face as Lily had just rejoined the group after a lengthy reproach from Professor McGonagall, which had earned her another detention.

Lily was fuming, although secretly she was quite pleased with the result of her hex. Professor McGonagall had even hinted congratulations on Lily's part at being so successful with her translocation, although she wouldn't outright admit it.

So it was with her head held up high that she entered the Potions classroom, grinning smugly at the empty seats behind her. No doubt Potter would be in the hospital wing for a while, so she may as well enjoy it while it lasted. It also helped that after witnessing the 'hexing', the Slytherins were noticeably subdued towards her. Their usual jibes were remarkably absent as Potions started.

"I think this day might turn out alright after all," Lily muttered under her breath softly, as she started to collect her ingredients for their next potion.

It took four full days for James to recover completely from having his eyes and ears translocated or so Lily had heard. She had also heard that people kept on creeping past the door to the hospital wing in the hopes that they could catch a glimpse at his face.

Practically the whole school had witnessed the event, but still ridiculous rumours were circulating around the school. One day, it was James' whole face that Lily had translocated somewhere … less pleasant to say the least. Another day, his eyes had reportedly popped out of his head, and he would have to get some of those creepy magical eyes that could see through walls.

Lily didn't mind any of the rumours, really, just as long as Potter kept well away from her. It was her birthday today and she refused to let anything curb her high spirits. She, Lily Evans was finally 15 years old. It was about time too, she thought ruefully. She was the last of her friends and nearly all of 5th year to be turning 15.

It wasn't a problem for Lily though. She just wanted a birthday where she could spend time with her friends again. Tonight would be a quiet night in her dorm, just relaxing with her friends. She had already received their gifts first thing in the morning, along with her parents' one as well. Not only had she been given a magical diary, but also some books, wizarding candy, money and best of all, a small kitten from her parents. This had made up for her previous punishment from her beloved sister, and Lily was absolutely delighted.

To lift her spirits even higher, there was a Hogsmeade visit tomorrow, so what better than to spend some of her birthday money buying some last minute dress robes for the Ball?

Lily smiled pensively as she finished writing her Potions essay. She was currently alone in the library, whilst her friends had disappeared somewhere. That was happening more and more often now, where Lily would be left alone and Sionell and Arabella would be busy elsewhere. She suspected that Sionell was usually with Sirius or at Quidditch practice … but Arabella's disappearances were somewhat of a mystery.

"Probably off spying on Remus," Lily chortled softly as she collected her books. According to her watch, it was time to go have dinner, so she decided to drop off her books in her dorm and see if she could find those missing friends of hers.

Lily knew something was wrong as soon as she opened the portrait door. For one thing, the whole common room was completely dark, with even the fireplace extinguished.

"SURPRISE!"

… That is, until the whole Gryffindor house decided to light them back up and scare the living daylights out of her.

Lily was startled as Gryffindors popped up from everywhere, her two best (and soon to be dead) friends, grinning cheekily at her from the corner of the room. Surprisingly, Remus and Sirius were looking equally as mischievous as they stood beside the girls.

She sent Bella and Sionell a stricken look. Surely the Marauders didn't help prepare this surprise party? The things they plan usually end up in flames, this party was sure to be the same.

But Lily smiled as her friends rushed over to hug her and her nonsense thoughts were replaced with utter gratitude. How stupid was she, worrying about what would happen? This was HER birthday party … Her friends had been planning a party. Why should she worry about the consequences for once? And with that final thought, Lily felt the tension that had been building up since the beginning of the year ease out of her, and after mock scolding her friends, she threw herself (not literally) into the party.

Not even the appearance of Potter managed to dim her spirit, and Lily allowed herself to enjoy life … dancing, talking, laughing and just generally spending time with people who actually cared about her.

After two hours had passed, Lily declared the party an official success. So far, the Gryffindors (out of respect for her) had avoided any catastrophes in the common room, and there was no real raucous behaviour going on …

… or so she thought.

* * *

**AN**: He he, it was kinda a cliffhanger, wasn't it? Oh well and I know, I'm sorry I lied! I said that in chapter 8 there would be something about Lily finding a date. Next chapter will definitely have it, as well as the rest of Lily's birthday party.

Thanks to the following reviewers as well:

**Ivy Crane:** Now that would be telling if I let something slip to you, wouldn't it? My lips are sealed, but I'll tell you one thing … it could happen.

**Angelisa Snape:** Thanks, its good to know that you like them all so far. I'm really sorry I haven't had a chance to check out your story yet though. This is probably the first time I've come on here for a while to actually read stuff. I've been so busy with uni! Anyway I hope you keep on reading.

**Wolfmoon:** Here's the next chapter, I made it as long as all the others but because I feel so bad at not updating soon I'll try and make the next chapter extra long.

**BlueEyedWildmage:** You have no idea how flattered I am to hear someone say that they love my fic! Granted I know its amateur stuff but still it makes me feel so happy. Oh and I can definitely say that some things in Lily's life are similar to mine too (hence why I wrote it, LOL), so I'm happy someone else understands her.

**Aquilastor: **Well, in this situation it was kind of pity, but it was more on a whim. James can be kind (occasionally) and he just felt that he was doing the right thing by asking her. At the moment it's not really anything else. They've disliked each other for too long to develop a crush or fall in love so soon.

**Zane Lupin:** Yes indeed, incident in first year. The plot thickens wouldn't you say? He he, no doubt you WILL find out in later chapters, but not for a while. I'm happy to say that this 'incident' is different from anything you might read in other fanfics. I made sure of that. Oh yes, and I agree totally about Lily being at fault. This time Lily was a bit too sensitive so she definitely overreacted to an innocent gesture by James. But you can't blame her entirely, as she has way too much hostility towards him to believe that he might actually mean it. I'm just wondering as well, what did you think about book 5? Was it anything that you expected? I can definitely say it put me off writing this story for a while. I was just too upset :(

**Hp_:** LOL, yeah you never know. There could be another guy temporarily in Lily's life in the not too distant future.

**Write-on3108:** Really? My story's the best? Wow, I'm soo happy! Keep on reading and reviewing then!

**DRUIDGIRL: **Thanks for reviewing and I hope you keep on reading!


	9. Uncalled for point deductions

**Title: Diametrically Opposed**

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Spoilers: **Written before Ootp, HBP & DH but contains some spoilers.

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Forewords:** Without further ado here is chapter nine. :)

* * *

**Diametrically Opposed**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Nine**

_Uncalled For Point Deductions_

_.._

Lily woke the next morning with sunlight streaming right into her face. She attempted to shift her head away, but thought better of it as a sudden pain shot through her entire head. She groaned her discomfort.

"Ah . . . the beauty has stirred."

Lily opened her eyes in a flash, recognising that conceited voice anywhere, then blinked momentarily as she tried to recognise her surroundings.

"Potter, what the hell are you doing in my room?" she croaked out irritably, struggling to sit up. A pair of hands gently pushed her back down again, and Lily growled.

"Someone is definitely not a morning person," teased James, stepping back abruptly as Lily took a blind swipe at him.

"And you're not in your room," Sirius added, sporting a lazy grin as he appeared from behind James with Remus in tow. "You're in ours, don't you remember?"

Lily stopped to look confusingly at the three boys, and she furrowed a brow as she desperately sifted through the events of the night before.

Her eyes widened as realisation set in and she groaned again to roll over and shove her head in the pillow face first.

"Oh no," was the eventual muffled reply. ("She remembers," Sirius whispered theatrically.)

..

_**Flashback**_

It was about midnight that the trouble started. By that time, her two so-called best friends had rapidly deteriorated into giggling wrecks. This was in major part due to the amount of butterbeer they'd managed to smuggle in from Hogsmeade earlier, so Lily left them on the couch at one point to mingle with the rest of the crowd. She'd only had a couple of drinks at that point, so she wasn't at all worried about joining her friends on the top of the silliness scale anytime soon.

As she reached the drinks table, chatting to a few classmates about the upcoming holidays, somebody jostled into her from behind, propelling her into the table.

"Sorry there," a voice said apologetically.

Lily spun around, a retort ready on her lips, but she quickly forced it back when she saw just who it was.

Josh Phillips. Sixth year hunk, Quidditch beater, and who was currently smiling back at her.

She found herself smiling back. "That's okay. I don't mind." _Idiot_, she winced.

Josh's smile grew wider as he appeared to realise just who was in front of him. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the beautiful birthday girl," he drawled. "Care for a drink?"

Heat began to creep up on Lily's cheeks. It was such a nice change to have a gentleman around that she nodded yes to the drink. He was even selfless enough to give her his own recently opened bottle of butterbeer, before getting one for himself. Lily took it, thanking him generously.

Josh winked. "No problem. Anything for the birthday girl."

Lily beamed.

**End Flashback**

..

"_Stupid_."

Lily tried to burrow herself deeper under the covers. That one conversation had been the catalyst for the events that followed, although the memory of some still remained slightly blurred in her head.

It was embarrassing how pathetic she'd been with Josh. After flowering her with compliments, she'd remained by his side for the next couple of hours, talking, laughing … unknowingly realising that she was also drinking more and more bottles of butterbeer.

… or had it really been butterbeer?

..

**Flashback**

Lily finally tore herself away from Josh as he greeted some other friends. Her feet feeling very unsteady underneath her, she somehow managed to stumble outside for some fresh air, but accidentally bumped into somebody in the garden.

"_Whoops_," she slurred, smiling goofily. Everything seemed so funny right now.

"Hey watch where you're going . . .Evans?" Lily turned around and came face to face with Potter. She giggled at the look on his face, but remembered how she was supposed to feel about him.

"Yes?" she replied haughtily. James was quite put off with her sudden change of behaviour, and he frowned.

"What's wrong with you Evans? Don't tell me you've gone soft?" he asked.

Lily giggled again, and lifted her arm to stroke James' face. James stiffened.

"You know I really admire your spunk Mr Potter . . . " she purred, her other hand coming to rest on his chest. James' eyes widened in shock at this new Lily Evans, and he stepped back, breaking contact with her.

Lily frowned disapprovingly and almost fell over at the loss of contact. Catching herself at the last minute, she looked up again at James, who was looking back at her in disbelief.

"Don't let this inflate your ego more than it already is, but I'd snog you right now," whispered Lily, twirling her hair thoughtfully.

A gasp sounded behind her and she swung around. Her eyes glazed over trying to take in the two boys standing before her, and she smiled slyly at their stares.

"Don't worry I'd snog you two as well . . . " she whispered suggestively, but was interrupted by Josh's voice.

"Lily, are you coming?"

Lily abruptly turned towards the direction of Josh, and she clucked her tongue disapprovingly. "You missed your chance boys … " she called over her shoulder as she stumbled over to meet Josh.

The three boys watched as she walked away, each of them dumbstruck.

"Wow, she certainly was hot," Sirius finally breathed, tilting his head to watch Lily greet Josh with a hug. "_Oww_!"

Rubbing his arm, Sirius turned to glare accusingly at James, who shrugged.

"Something's up with Evans. That's not her … She doesn't normally say –well, what she said to me . . . and to you." Remus nodded in agreement.

"How could I forget?" Sirius mumbled.

James' features darkened.

"Josh must have slipped something into her drink," Remus interjected quickly, throwing Sirius a dirty look.

"Damn right, he must have . . . " James broke off as he saw Lily and Josh turn around a corner.

"We need to follow them, or else something bad could happen," he said urgently, already heading off in their direction. Remus jogged after him, and after a couple of seconds, Sirius followed, grinning ruefully at the thought of Sionell who he had left inside. He sighed.

"Lily, you want to come for a walk?" asked Josh. Lily nodded eagerly. Everything seemed so tempting to her at that moment, which should have felt weird, but it was strangely exhilarating.

"Yeah, let's find somewhere that we can be alone," she said. Josh grinned. He put an arm around her shoulders and she snuggled up close to him as they walked around the corner.

They stopped by the Greenhouses, and almost immediately Josh began to gently push Lily against the wall. She giggled, but didn't resist, resting the palms of her hands onto his powerful chest. Josh looked even cuter up close, she thought, looking up at him. Blurry, yes, but definitely cuter.

Josh began creeping closer to her, his face tilting down to meet hers. Just when he had almost closed the gap between them, two arms came from nowhere and roughly pulled him away.

"_Hey,_ what's the big idea?" he snarled at his unknown attackers.

One of them stepped forward from the darkness, and Josh gulped. It was the Marauders.

James sneered.

"I doubt that Lily would appreciate you doing that if she was in her right mind," he said, glancing meaningfully at Lily who was once again giggling against the wall.

Josh flushed with shame. Lily, however was clueless of the whole situation.

"What's it to you anyway?" Josh spat back.

James's expression grew menacing. "What did you slip into her drink?" he asked. There was no doubt from the tone in his voice that he expected a truthful answer.

Josh managed to shrug.

"Just a bit of firewhisky," he replied meekly.

"Just how much is a bit? James demanded angrily.

"Uh – almost half a bottle."

"Half a bottle!" exclaimed Remus.

Even Sirius whistled at the amount.

James stepped forward menacingly and a split second later, Josh was on the ground, nursing a broken nose. Remus leapt to hold James back from landing any more blows.

James spat in disgust, but allowed Remus' efforts. "You keep away from her, or else you'll have more than a broken nose, you git!" he growled.

Josh grinned amidst the blood. "She needed to loosen up. I was _there_ for her," he said smugly.

"There for her?" James had to laugh. "Let me tell you this. I've done stupid things to Evans before, I admit that, but not even I would steep this low. When she recovers from this, I'd prepare to make a hasty retreat from Hogwarts. If you thought my face was bad, just wait . . . Your fate will be much, _much_ worse."

"I know you're not doing this for her wellbeing Potter. Don't tell me you've fallen for her . . . the one girl who _can't_ _stand _to be in your presence?" Josh smirked.

James let out a furious growl and was about to punch him again, until Lily suddenly jumped between them, waving her wand around threateningly.

She tried to frown.

"Students aren't allowed to fight . . . 1000 points from Gryffin . . . _Hey_!" She stopped as Sirius hoisted her over his shoulder and set off for the common room.

Sirius grinned cheekily.

"Nice to know the real Lily Evans is still in there somewhere," he laughed, but then winced as Lily started to punch him in the back.

"Put me down, Black," she protested, desperately struggling to get out of his grasp.

"Nope, not until you play nice," replied Sirius.

"I can play whatever you like," Lily said suggestively. Sirius almost dropped her.

"This girl is _dangerous_ when she's wasted."

He heard a chuckle behind him, to find Remus practically dragging James along.

"We better get her to our dorm. This isn't something she'd want her friends to see," Remus suggested, but was thinking more of what Bella's reaction would be. He'd bet anything it would be … explosive, to say the least.

He tugged the Invisibility Cloak away from James, gently draping it over Lily, who gasped in surprise.

She ran her fingers over the soft folds of the cloth. "Is this …" she trailed off in awe.

"Invisibility Cloak," Remus finished for her. "As long as you don't say anything, Lily, no one will know you're even there."

Lily nodded happily. She remembered the times when her and Petunia would play Hide and Seek. If she'd had the Cloak back then she would have won _every _time.

Sirius nodded too and they walked to their dorms, Sirius still carrying her, but less obvious about it. They took longer than usual as they didn't want anyone to see them, but finally they reached their dorm.

"Where do I put her?" asked Sirius, allowing Remus to remove the cloak from over Lily.

Lily heard her name and she piped up, pointing to the bed in the corner.

"James' bed, it looks so much more comfortable than any of yours," she said, squealing in delight as she jumped onto the correct bed, and threw back the covers. "Though I'm sure plenty of girls know that already."

Remus' mouth twitched as he fought back a smile and Sirius practically fell on the floor in laughter. James was stock-still. His jaw had dropped after hearing this, but he was making no effort to close it.

Remus recovered first. He had a question to ask.

"How did you know which bed was James?"

From his place on the floor, Sirius' head shot up, also curious. "Yeah, you've never been in here before," he added.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "_That's_ what you think," she said smiling mischievously. Sirius shared a look with Remus.

"Care to elaborate?" he ventured. "And James, pick your jaw up from the ground will you?" He directed the last comment to James, whose face flushed with embarrassment.

"Not from any fault of mine," protested James.

Lily pretended to consider answering the question, and then laughed. Why did it matter if they found out now? Of course, it mattered more than her inebriated self could ever realise …

"Remember how you had that little problem with the – uh … location of your beds not too long ago?" she asked, slyly.

At once, Sirius's face lit up in understanding.

"That was you?" he asked incredulously.

Lily nodded. "Never suspected me, Nell and Bella did you?" she said smugly, turning her head to meet James' gaze. "You brought it on yourself, you know."

James couldn't help but repeat Sirius' words dumbly. "That was you?"

"Don't act so shocked. Did you actually think that I was going to let you get away with that prank on me?" Lily shot back.

"No it can't have been you," James denied, shaking his head in disbelief. "You just saw our beds in the Great Hall … That's all."

"That's what you think…" she said mockingly, before pushing herself into a sitting position, "… but then again, I don't think you want to admit to yourself that a girl like me can upstage a pompous, conceited prat like you."

James unconsciously raked a hand through his hair as he took a second look at Lily. It appeared she _was_ capable of pranking him… surprisingly it made him look at her differently… until he remembered the humiliation at the prank. He scowled.

"So which one of you charmed my boxers?" he demanded.

Lily giggled hysterically, and if possible her smile grew even bigger as she removed her wand from her pocket and started to twirl it idly round her fingers.

"Ten and a quarter inches long … swishy …made of willow … Mr Ollivander always said my wand was nice for charm work if I recall correctly," she said absently, looking fondly at her wand.

"YOU!" James roared, almost having to hold himself back from hexing her.

"Yes me, Lily Evans, 5th year Gryffindor prefect who is about to kung fu your ass if you don't stop shouting at me," she yelled back, pointing her wand directly at James.

It seemed to James that her mood swings whilst being drunk changed dramatically… and frighteningly fast. One minute she was laughing, the next she's ready to hex. He lowered his own wand to stare back at Lily.

"Fung Ku … what?" Sirius piped up stupidly.

"Muggle thing," Lily replied impatiently, her wand still aimed at James. For a few moments her face scrunched up, trying to think of a possible hex, but her mind seemed so scrambled up that she eventually gave up.

"Ooh Evans is getting feisty - _oomph_!" Sirius started to tease Lily but was stopped as she reached over and punched him hard in the arm.

"Yeah, maybe in the future you will all care to remember that …"

She discarded her wand onto the bed and was about to leap at James to hit him too, when suddenly she started to feel exhausted. The last thing Lily remembered was falling to the floor in a dead faint.

**End flashback**

..

It took Lily quite a few minutes later before she could emerge from the covers. She rose up slowly from the bed, holding her head with both hands and flushing madly.

"I can't believe that happened … what I did … I'm sorry I nearly-"

James interrupted with a frown. "Hey, none of this is your fault, you never knew that would happen." … _And it did help us to find the culprits of that bloody prank,'_ he added silently.

Lily nodded, smiling sheepishly, before her face contorted into a grimace. With one hand raised to her mouth, she jumped out of the bed, mumbling, "I think I'm gonna be sick," before running into the bathroom.

"I'm glad she didn't do that last night," Sirius stated jokingly.

"I can't believe it was her," James muttered grumpily.

Remus snorted mirthlessly. "I would have done the same if I was in her position. I'm just surprised that we didn't figure it out for ourselves."

"Yeah, you would laugh," retorted James. "You weren't humiliated as much as I was in front of the school."

Sirius rubbed his hands in glee. "No matter, we can just get revenge now that we know who was behind it all."

Remus cut in firmly. "Not now though. For now we let Lily stay in our bathroom until she recovers fully."

Peter groaned. "I really needed to go to the toilet though," he whined.

He was met by three disgruntled glares.

* * *

Lily remained in the boys' toilets until midway through breakfast. The Marauders (excluding Peter who decided he'd rather eat), stayed with her ... well not with her per say, but in the dorm at least. None of them were game enough to actually join her in the bathroom.

When Lily finally felt well enough to pull herself away from the toilet, the Marauders led her back to the main room under the invisibility cloak. She thanked them softly, watching them disappear back under the Cloak, then made her way to her own dorm. After reaching her own dorm safely, and noting the absence of her friends, she slowly undressed and climbed into her bed. Lily was no longer eager to go to Hogsmeade. All she wanted to do was sleep.

Before she did, she sleepily mumbled under her breath, "Happy birthday Lily."

* * *

"She's not really going to take away 1000 points from Gryffindor is she?" Peter asked timidly as the rest of the Marauders rejoined him in the Great Hall.

Sirius snorted. "Of course not, Peter. I didn't let her finish her sentence and anyway I don't think its allowed to have so many points deducted by a prefect in one incident, right James?"

James nodded vaguely. "Uh . . . right."

" … And I bet that Jamesie here could just reinstate these points if they were taken away, right?" Sirius continued.

"Right," James mumbled in return, his attention focused more on his cereal and his thoughts.

Bloody Evans had once again invaded his life.

After spending a whole night with her in his presence, he had hoped that when she left, she and her annoying little attitude would leave him alone. How wrong he was. Even after he had led her back to her dorm, he had still thought about her. How she had flirted with him last night … how she had then tried to hex him. Then of course, most importantly, her confession to that troublesome prank. The prank, which had risen above any that him and his fellow Marauders had ever pulled before.

Her face flashed past his eyes … her smug face, with those emerald green eyes glinting with triumph … at the same time, always twinkling merrily … Damn those eyes! And her long, dark red hair! And her stupid ability to show him up in everything he did! James cursed inwardly. Enough of these thoughts. There are better things to dwell on than Evans.

" … And its not as if James minds anyway. Anything for his Lily, right James?"

Like the conversation his friends were having.

"Right- _hey_!" James cried ignorantly as the words sunk in, punching Sirius in the arm. "I don't fancy Evans!"

Sirius rubbed his arm gingerly. "I didn't say that last bit. Mr Lupin there said it."

"Mr Lupin begs Mr Black to shut his troublesome mouth before Mr Lupin decides to shut it himself."

"As if Mr Lupin ca-"

"Shut up with the Mr crap!" James interrupted in annoyance.

"Mr Lupin, it seems Mr Potter is quite troubled." Sirius continued on mischievously, ignoring James.

Remus nodded his agreement, shifting out of James' range. "Mr Lupin concurs with Mr Black and thinks that Mr Potter needs to lighten up before he goes insane."

"And Mr Potter is going to resort to drastic measures so that the legacy of Messrs Black and Lupin's ends with them!" James threatened with a growl.

"Oooh nasty," Sirius cringed, giving his friend a friendly shove before standing up. "Mr Black is therefore going in hiding until Mr Potter gets over his PMS."

"Sirius!" James bellowed, rising to his feet.

The aforementioned had already left the building.

* * *

**A/N:** There you go another chapter finished. Sorry its shorter than usual, but I've been pretty busy this week. Recovering from exams and all. :) I thought I would end it without a cliff hanger this time, and it seems fitting to end it on that funny note.

As usual thanks to the following reviewers:

Sakura-Free-Spirit: I doubt mine is the best, but nonetheless I'm flattered. Thanks, and I hope you decided to review again.

Write-on3108: Heres another chapter and thanks for reviewing another chapter!

Angelisa Snape: Wow, two reviews in one chapter! I'm honoured.

Parselmouth Majere: No problem, I can handle constructive criticism, and anything to get me more reviews is much appreciated! I'm not changing the title though, but I did change the summary, so if you can read it and tell me your opinion on whether its still too cliché or if you want something changed, I would be very grateful! And I hope you keep on reading, cos your last review 'hidden gold mine' in particular made me grin so goofily, my family thought I was nuts. LOL.

Zane Lupin: Thanks for your email the other day. I was happy that I had someone else to talk to about OoP! I've decided I'm gonna keep on writing, it's just so much fun! He he. I reckon I've become a review-a-holic now! Whenever I read reviews, especially yours, I feel so happy. I keep on thinking …more … I want more.

DRUIDGIRL: Gasp! Are you threatening the author with death? LOL. It's too bad i'm such a sucker for good reviewers like yourself, otherwise I wouldn't bother updating.

Anarane Anwamane: Thanks, I will.

LiannesLily: Yep, guilty as charged I do read Belgariad, and that scene was partly based on that fight scene, but please don't shoot me! I recently reread the Belgariad and I couldn't get that particular scene out of my head. I changed it heaps though, and just kept the basis of it, because it fit in so well with their personalities. Don't get me wrong, that was the first time I wrote something that was influenced by another book, and it wont happen again. I hope you keep on reading.

Ivy Lupin: Yay, someone else realised it too. I always love putting in something from the books, even if it mightn't have happened, there's always the possibility.

* * *

I thought I'd leave you all with a little quote from Chicken Run (It was on TV last night so I cant get the movie out of me head) Here it is:

_'I saw my life flash before my eyes … it was really boring.'_


	10. Aftershock

**Title: **Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Spoilers: **Written before Ootp, HBP & DH but contains some spoilers.

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Forewords:** All I have to say right now is WOW! I can't believe how many reviews I have gotten in the past few days. So far I think its 22 since the last time I updated!

Therefore I decided to make this chapter longer than usual. The actual chapter (excluding the authors notes) took up 13 pages on word. So please review!

* * *

**Diametrically Opposed**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Ten**

_Aftershock_

_.._

Lily only felt like she'd fallen asleep only moments before her dorm crashed open. She prised one eye open to see Arabella and Sionell bursting into the room.

"Lily! Get out of bed right now!" Arabella commanded, throwing herself carelessly onto the end of Lily's bed and jolting her already throbbing head. Her so called friend gave no indication that she would be leaving anytime soon, and Lily knew better than to cross her fingers and hope she'd miraculously disappear. She reluctantly sat up, bleary eyed and groaning, before proceeding to push Bella off her feet.

"I was sleeping!" Lily finally found her voice, covering her mouth as she yawned widely.

Unlike Bella, Sionell carefully seated herself on the edge of Lily's bed. "Haven't you had enough sleep already?" she asked, an incredulous note to her voice. "You realise it's almost lunchtime."

_Whoops. _Lily gasped. "_Lunchtime_!"

"Yeah, missy, lunchtime. You know we were really worried about you this morning when we woke up. You weren't on the couches next to us in the common room."

Lily frowned in confusion. "Common room?" she repeated slowly. Is that why the beds were empty when she came in this morning? She really should have connected the dots sooner, but her brain just did not want to function.

Sionelle confirmed her suspicions. "Yeah, we fell asleep on the common room couches sometime last night," she admitted sheepishly, gesturing to their unmade beds. "We never quite made it upstairs to our beds because we'd had a few too many butterbeers."

"But you were suspiciously absent from the common room, weren't you?" Bella continued on suspiciously. "Where did you go?" she asked.

Lily was at a loss for words.

"I- uh- I-" she spluttered, no plausible excuse springing to mind. She couldn't exactly tell them the truth either, as she was still coming to terms with what had happened! As it was, half the night just kept flitting back to her in confusing flashes … Josh … getting drunk but not actually knowing that was why she had started feeling so high and carefree … the Marauders, and spending the night in their dorm. _Oh God_, and in Potter's bed too.

Her heart started pounding loudly through her head at the next realisation. She'd told them about the prank too. Oh, the shame. Potter knew it was her that had charmed his boxers.

_Why haven't they killed me yet, _she wondered curiously.

"_Aha!_" Bella cried out in triumph. Lily jumped, returning back to the present with an uneasy jolt. Bella was looking at her with a knowing glint in her eyes. Could she possibly-

"-I knew it! You snuck away early last night, didn't you?" Bella exclaimed. "You left your own party to get some study in!" She shook her head. "I should have known you'd do that once Nell and I were – out of the picture."

Relief flooded Lily, and she found herself slowly nodding. For once, Bella jumping to conclusions was a good thing. Surely, her explanation was less complicated, so why couldn't Lily just leave it at that? What she needed to do was try and forget last night had ever happened. It would be less painful that way … for everybody involved of course.

Even the idea of Obliviating the Marauders sounded pretty reasonable just then. Nah, that would never work. But surely, the threat of a hex or another embarrassing prank would be enough to keep them quiet, or she could even agree to keep the identity of the prank a secret from the rest of the school. The idea of being upstaged by Lily Evans would not be particularly appealing to Potter, she was sure.

As for Josh …

…Well, no doubt his future held a lengthy visit to the hospital wing. It was just a matter of how and when, not if…

"Lily?"

Startled, Lily jerked her head, and then wished she didn't. She gritted her teeth to fight the pain, but when that didn't work she gripped the side of her head with both hands.

"Hey, are you all right?" asked Sionell.

"Just a bit of a headache. I'll be fine," Lily mumbled.

"Maybe you should go and get a headache cure from Madam Pomfrey," Bella suggested.

Lily nodded slowly. "Yeah … yeah I might go do that now," she replied, climbing out of bed. Very careful not to jostle her head anymore, she slowly pulled a robe over her to conceal her pyjamas. Before walking out the door, she turned and managed a small smile, though it felt more like a grimace. "Then we can go to Hogsmeade, right?"

Sionell practically bounced up in excitement. "Of course. We need to get you some dress robes."

"So don't be long," Bella added as Lily walked down the stairs.

It wasn't a long walk to the hospital wing, nor did it take long to find Madam Pomfrey and take a headache cure. What took the longest was the walk back … and for some considerably good reasons too …

… Just as she walked past the entrance to the Great Hall, fate ruined any chance of a quiet afternoon.

"Josh Phillips," Lily greeted, deliberately adopting a sickly sweet voice. She stopped in the hallway to face the boy in question. He had obviously been on his way to Hogsmeade, joking around with his friends as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened the night before.

However, Lily noted with a certain amount of satisfaction that Josh's nose was slightly swollen and discoloured. Potter's right hook had left quite a mark. For now, that would have to do, she thought disappointedly. With plenty of potential witnesses, her own plan for revenge would have to wait until a more … appropriate time.

She still managed to muster up a passable smile to match her sweet tone.

The boy in question visibly tensed at her approach; shifting his uneasy gaze down to Lily's wand hand, which was fortunately (for him), currently empty. Clearly, Josh wasn't exempt from the rumours circulating her last hexing of Potter. He probably was expecting the same treatment.

With good reason too.

Josh's voice was guarded as he greeted Lily in return. "Lily."

Although her fingers itched to grab her wand, Lily was careful to keep that desire off her face. "I thought I would inform you that fifty points will be deducted from Gryffindor for the childish behaviour that you displayed last night," she stated. "I feel as though I don't have to repeat just what behaviour that was either."

His friends were eyeing him with confusion, but Josh ignored them to give Lily a stiff nod. To her satisfaction, the tension in his body seemed to relax somewhat when she said nothing further, and his eyes even flickered up to meet her gaze as he murmured his goodbye.

Let him relax, she thought vengefully, watching his back disappear down the hallway. She would get him later, and when he least expected it.

She set off to the common with a slight bounce in her step, humming a tune under her breath as she conjured up in her mind all the possible hexes that she could use on Josh that hadn't already been targeted towards Potter.

"Why didn't you hex him?" A voice behind her demanded.

_Speak of the devil_. Lily scowled at being caught by surprise by the berk, but didn't bother to turn her head as she continued to walk on.

"What makes you think I would?" she asked him innocently.

There was a loud scoff. "I've been on the other end of your wand before, Evans," James said, his loud footsteps following close behind her. "I know _exactly _what you are capable of."

Two steps later, and he easily fell into stride with Lily.

"Should you dare to be so close to me?" she shot back frostily.

James laughed unexpectedly. "I shouldn't, but then again I like to take risks. Besides, I'm more eager to talk about last night."

"Well I'm not." Lily said shortly, increasing her stride. James shot out his arm to stop her, but she angrily shook him off.

"You shouldn't let him get away with what he did to you," insisted James.

"And you shouldn't concern yourself over me," retorted Lily, then sighed. "I'm thankful for what … you … and the other Marauders did for me last night, don't get me wrong. But please just drop it. I am not letting him get away with anything. As you most likely _eavesdropped_ just now, you would know that I deducted points for his behaviour."

"That's nothing, Evans and you know it," James maintained angrily. "Why don't you just let me hex him in the corridor or something? When he least expects it?"

"Yeah, because that's your solution to everything isn't it, Potter?" Lily shot back, conveniently ignoring the fact that she had been planning to do the same thing only moments before. "Hexing people whenever you feel like it, _wherever_ you feel like is what you do best, isn't it?"

James narrowed his eyes in resentment. "Well you're one to talk. Have you already forgotten my recent face - lift? Or-" Here his face actually flushed, "-my boxers? You sure didn't mind hexing _me _on those occasions."

This time Lily stopped in her tracks to face James. "You're a special case, Potter."

"How?" James challenged.

"Because. You. Won't. Leave. Me. Alone!" she cried back, flinging both arms into the air in pure frustration.

"But I never slipped anything into your drink like Josh did, did I?" James said.

Lily arched an eyebrow. "Really? Then how did I become a cat for a week?" she enquired nastily.

James gulped. "Point taken, but I didn't get you drunk or take advantage of you like Josh would have … And I never snuck into your dorm to charm your pyjamas either!"

"You didn't go that far … I admit." Lily relented reluctantly, calming herself down. She swallowed hard, finding it difficult to spit out the next words. "And for that … other prank … if you were truly hurt by it, I'm … sorry."

James was amazed. To be thanked by Evans was priceless … but an apology as well was like unheard of until now. Granted an apology still didn't satisfy him for what she had done. He was still copping abuse from the many Slytherins, especially the ones who had managed to keep incriminating images of that morning, and for quite a while afterwards, he'd been slightly anxious to sleep in his bed at night, not knowing who might sneak in again, and what might be enchanted that time.

But at least he now knew who was responsible, and obviously he'd be getting his revenge with the Marauders one day.

Smiling slightly, he didn't acknowledge her rare apology, other than to meet her gaze for a long moment. She nodded, somehow understanding that was his way of putting that prank behind him, and they continued to walk the rest of the way in silence.

As he reached the portrait, James couldn't help but add, "I really wouldn't mind hexing him though."

Lily sighed. Would he ever desist? "Haven't you done enough already? I thought that honker of a nose would have been sufficient enough for you anyway."

"Physically yes, I am proud of that hit," admitted James, facing the portrait. "Snitch." The portrait swung open, letting them pass through. "But my wands itching to participate as well."

"For the last time, Potter, forget about it-," Lily broke off, feeling a bit exposed in the common room. Noticing that they'd attracted a few stares from curious onlookers, she added in a softer tone, "-and I'd really appreciate it if you and the Marauders wouldn't say anything to anybody else. Bella and Sionell don't know."

James looked incredulous that she'd even brought it up. "Of course we aren't going to say anything. Why do you think we went to all that trouble of hiding you last night?"

Lily hadn't quite thought about that point. "Okay," she conceded, then thought evilly of her earlier thoughts, "Because if you did, I was going to admit to the school that the famous Marauders had been upstaged by three mere witches."

James gasped in mock shock, though inwardly he was slightly perturbed at the threat.

"Resorting to blackmail now, Evans? My, aren't we getting corrupt this year? Already you've snuck into people's dorms to mess with their _personal_ belongings-"

"Not personal, when _you_ are wearing them" Lily mumbled softly.

"-transfigured body parts-"

"Honestly it made you look better."

"-and now its blackmail!" James replied, pointedly ignoring Lily's comments.

She offered an innocent shrug in return. "But I don't think I have to worry about anything else now, do I? You are obviously _way_ too smart for me there," Lily said sweetly, and she walked away from a wordless James and over to the staircases.

James sighed as he saw her retreating back. What could he have said to that? He couldn't exactly argue his point, because then it would prove him to be immature.

… Damn Evans. Why did she always get the better of him?

* * *

Things definitely took an upturn after her problematic birthday party. After buying her first set of gorgeous looking dress robes and returning back to Hogwarts that same day, Lily had managed to catch a glimpse of Josh as he walked down the hallway in front of her.

And this time he had been alone.

Despite her previous protests with Potter, Lily was not about to forget about what had happened and was far from getting her revenge. She just tended to be more discreet about those sorts of things.

From what Lily heard a couple days later, Josh was now residing in the hospital wing with a severe case of laryngitis. Seemingly, he was mysteriously hexed (by someone unknown behind him) with a powerful silencing spell that Madam Pomfrey was unable to reverse.

Lily chuckled. All she did was put on a simple silencing charm … with a slight twist to it of course. It was Josh's own fault, really. He really should have seen Madam Pomfrey first … not try and fix it himself. His fruitless attempts had only intensified the duration and strength of the charm.

Which was what she had also originally intended. By Merlin, she _loved_ being top of the class in Charms sometimes.

She was also detention free for a while, which was a first for this year. Clearly, _he_ wouldn't be saying anything for a while … and even once he could, there was only the suspicion that she was the one responsible. Lily was too clever to leave any actual proof of her … involvement. Besides, Josh was probably just like Potter … too ashamed to admit to anyone that a girl hexed him good.

The only problem that remained now for Lily was the little matter of finding a date for the ball. Normally she would be too shy to ask anybody, but since the ball was the first in more than six years, prefects were being asked to open the ball with a dance. Obviously Lily couldn't dance with herself, so she was unable to get away with having no escort alongside her.

Lily had practically frozen as the Head Boy and Girl reminded them of that fact two days before. Just hearing the word 'escort' was enough to send her screaming into the Forbidden Forest. The same had applied to Snape by the looks of things. During the meeting, he'd seemed equally as horrified at the prospect.

Lily had felt so stupid afterwards about overlooking that little fact before. Either it slipped her mind or her mind repressed it. Both ways meant that she was screwed. It was obvious to her that it would be next to impossible trying to find a date at the beginning of December. The Ball was only three weeks away!

Nobody had asked Lily so far … _apart from Potter_ … something, which Lily tried to ignore completely. But times were getting desperate and as the days ticked by, it was something that pressed more and more onto her conscience.

It was one Potions class that Lily found herself being partnered up with Severus Snape.

As Snape grinded the asphodel roots into fine powder, Lily stopped to glance thoughtfully over at him. He was probably having the same problem as her with finding a date, and she was wondering how he was faring. Maybe Snape could find somebody for her, and vice versa. She suppressed a snort at that last thought. Finding dates and the name Snape just did not fit together in the same sentence, much less the same reality. Nonetheless she couldn't help but wonder, so Lily decided to do something about it.

"Have you found a date for the ball yet?" Lily asked suddenly.

Snape's hand slipped as he jerked his head to look back at her in surprise. "Why would you want to know?" he blurted out scathingly.

"Oh, come on Severus, lighten up," Lily chided gently. She was used to Snape's antics by now, and they didn't bother her in the slightest. Everybody had covers, Snape's was just slightly more … bitter than most. "It was just to start the conversation going. No need to bite my head off."

"Couldn't you have just started the conversation by asking something _less_ personal?" he hissed back scowling. He flitted a nervous look behind him where two fellow Slytherins' were working at their own potion.

Lily noticed the glance, but said nothing of it. "I could have," she spoke slightly softer, "but I thought I'd get right into it … and it was an issue that has been on my own mind for a while."

Snape frowned. "What, me having a date?" He said it as though it was something dreadful.

"No," Lily replied laughingly. "Finding a date in general. I still have yet to find one myself, and the crowd of available guys seems to be dwindling everyday."

"No one has asked you yet?" Snape asked, his voice betraying a hint of incredulity.

"Apart from Potter, no."

"_Potter!_"

Lily chuckled. "Sorry, should have known not to mention his name in your presence."

"Why the hell did Potter ask you?"

"He pitied me for not being able to get a date myself. Thought he was doing _me_ a justice by asking me," she replied indifferently, though it still secretly irritated her.

"Ah of course, how could I forget Potter's chivalrous side? Always one for heroics and saving the damsel in distress," said Snape, sarcastically. "So you're saying that you're going to have to find a date as well?"

"What with this stupid opening dance that we Prefects have to do, yes I'm afraid so. I gather from what you just said that you also do?" Lily pressed on curiously.

Snape nodded in confirmation. He seemed about to say something but then returned back to their cauldron. A few moments later he spoke up, although his voice was barely perceptible.

"We could always go together," Snape suggested uncomfortably. After catching Lily's shocked expression he added, "Just as acquaintances of course."

"Oh," was Lily's only reply.

"It just saves the problem of finding a date as I'm not too particularly find of asking anyone from my own house … but only if you're willing." Snape continued on slowly, his face tilted towards the cauldron so Lily was unable to read the emotions on his face … Not that he ever showed any, of course, Lily corrected herself.

Lily licked her lips slightly. She had truthfully, not been expecting that question from Snape's mouth … bringing up that issue was not done purposefully, she never intended for him to ask her … it just seemed weird … not grossed out or anything as he was … just as he said, an acquaintance … but strange nonetheless. As she pondered it further, Lily realised it would solve all her problems, and she wouldn't be tied down with him. After the opening dance, they were sure to go their separate ways anyway, she concluded. Snape hadn't even wanted to come to the ball in the first place, if she could recall correctly.

"Sure."

Snape seemed surprised, but kept his face impassive as he nodded in return.

"Well that's settled then," he said, before he grew silent.

The rest of the potions class was spent in silence as they worked to finish their potion. But by the end of the lesson, after they'd parted their own separate ways, Lily was decidedly more cheerful with the weight of finding a date now thrown off her shoulders.

* * *

"I'm sooo tired, why can't we do this tomorrow night?" Peter yawned as he was handed a goblet containing a rather putrid smelling potion.

It was past midnight and the four Marauders were hidden in an unused classroom this time. They hadn't been too keen on standing in three feet of water in the haunted girls bathroom, as Moaning Mytrle had flooded the toilets again. This room seemed better suited to their needs anyway, and they had managed to clear a space in the middle of the classroom by shoving desks and chairs into the corners. Only one desk still stood nearby, holding the cauldron that contained the very same potion Peter had in his goblet.

Sirius exhaled noisily as he poured himself some of the same potion. "We've waited long enough. The potion was ready ages ago in case you haven't forgotten, Pete?"

Peter still looked less than pleased. "Well, I don't want to go first this time. I'm not some Potions lab rat."

"Fine, I'll go first, then Sirius, then you. Happy?" James said irritably. Peter nodded weakly and James continued on. "Okay, according to the book all we have to do is take the potion and let it slowly guide us into our animal form. After the potion teaches our bones, muscles, organs, and whatnot to alter into our form tonight, it will take another couple of weeks before we can successfully change without the aid of the potion."

"How long until the potion wears out and you return to your human form?" Remus asked nervously. He wasn't altogether comfortable with the idea of having three animal friends for the rest of his life. He was animal enough for all four of them.

Sirius glanced at his watch. "If it works about ten or so minutes," he answered. "You can make it last longer but James and I figured it was best to keep it as short as possible."

Remus nodded. He couldn't believe they were about to go through this for him, but knew they wouldn't listen if he voiced his concerns again.

James took a deep breath as he eyed the goblet warily. "Here goes nothing then." Pinching his nose, he raised the goblet to his mouth, threw his head back and gulped it down.

At first he stood there, his face screwing up in disgust at the slimy taste of the potion and the way the liquid seemed to burn as it travelled past his throat.

Then, it began.

First as an uncomfortable sensation … almost as though his bones were liquefying into bubbles. It wasn't at all painful, but James couldn't deny that the sensation was entirely welcome, especially when he felt his bones starting to change shape. His arms started to grow slightly longer, making him lean forward slightly to combat the sudden change in balance. This only grew worse when his leg bones soon followed suit, and the ends of his fingers and toes curled up tightly until they felt practically fused together. The sudden lengthening and curving of his spinal chord propelled him to actually bend forward to stand on all fours, causing his robes to tear into unrecognisable shreds.

Whilst all this was happening simultaneously, light brown fur had also started to sprout all over his body, and the most curious feeling of them was when two distinct lumps began to grow on either side of his head. At first it was though they were pushing outwards, then they suddenly burst out and James caught his first glimpse at his … _antlers?_

Sirius was the first to approach him.

"Whoah," he whispered in awe, reaching out to pat the stag that was now James. "I've never known you to go stag before James, so this is a first," he joked, then winced as his arm pressed against the sharp antlers.

James let out a grunt as he heard Sirius' words. A _stag_! Who would have thought?

"You better watch yourself there, James. You don't want to spike us with those prongs of yours before we can shift ourselves," Peter warned, his voice squeaking slightly as his eyes followed the two large antlers.

Sirius' eyes lit up. "_Prongs_!" he breathed. "That's a perfect nickname. You can be called Prongs."

James the stag glared stupidly at his friend, but kept quiet as he tested out his new legs. As he was quite large, he could only take a few steps forward and back before reaching the other desks and chairs. It was still a fantastic experience, being in control of such a powerful yet surprisingly graceful creature.

True to Sirius' words, he transformed back into himself after ten minutes. It was a quicker process than before, but he embarrassingly found himself still on his hands and knees on the floor.

James stood up quickly, wiping his hands on his now shredded robes and grinning sheepishly (or should he have said _stag_ishly). Quickly patching them up, he turned to his friends and laughed. "That. Was. Amazing!" he gasped.

"What was it like?" asked Sirius, instantly.

"Everything inside of me started to change, and I could feel like my bones were bubbling and shifting into another form. _It wasn't painful Peter!_" He added in exasperation after he caught Peter backing away in fright.

"What did you mean by calling me Prongs, by the way?" James asked Sirius, who had begun to grin as well.

"I just thought that it's about time we got some special names for ourselves," he explained. "And what better way to link it with our Animagi forms. When Peter said it, I realised that you can be called Prongs because it's obviously your most noticeable feature."

James nodded his agreement. It made sense to use their newfound nicknames as a sort of codeword to hide their new ability, but it would also be amusing to have those names out in the open without anybody ever actually knowing where they'd come from.

Although it wouldn't quite work for everybody … As he glanced sideways at Remus, who didn't look thrilled with their idea, Sirius followed his gaze in realisation.

"Remus, you obviously need a name too," Sirius said quickly.

James nodded. "Yeah, something connected to being a – werewolf," James said the last word, almost apologetically. He knew even the reminder of his affliction was sometimes painful to bear. "Something to-" he trailed off slowly to think of some possible names, but his mind came up blank.

"Something to do with the moon," Remus quietly interjected, his eyes falling on the light shining down from the window. "Something like Moon, or Moony …"

James knew even though he couldn't quite see it, Remus could tell exactly what stage of the moon they were currently at.

Sirius clapped Remus on the back, breaking the sad moment. "Yeah … that fits you Remus. From now on you're Moony, and James is Prongs. Now it's just me and Pete who have yet to find names. I'll go next."

And without further ado he downed the potion. The same process started again … except this time, Sirius' body transformed into a …

"Merlin, you look like the Grim!" Remus exclaimed, watching as Sirius began to chase his tail, barking merrily. Peter's eyes had practically bugged out of his head at the sight.

James only snorted. "Bet you'd give our Divination professor a real scare if she saw you," he said, pulling one of Sirius' floppy ears gently, who snapped back joyfully.

"Maybe now you'll be quiet enough to sneak past those house elves in the kitchen and steal us some food," James teased, "You've always been hopeless at doing that in the past."

Sirius waited until he transformed to yell happily at James. "I will be more silent than you are. Whilst you go clip clodding around, I'll be going around with no sound on my _padded feet_!"

"That can be your name Sirius," Remus suggested suddenly.

Sirius made a face. "What, padded feet?"

"Yeah, or something like it, how about … padfeet?"

"Or how about just Padfoot?" James modified helpfully.

Sirius grew silent as he considered the name. "Yeah that'll work ... Padfoot."

James turned to the last of their group to try the potion. "Okay, now you, Peter. Don't worry, we're here if you need help," he said, trying to sound reassuring. Their fourth friend needed that extra boost of encouragement sometimes.

Peter reluctantly drank the potion. Unlike the others, he began to shrink rapidly and the goblet dropped beside him. As a result, after his transformation had finished he was partly hidden from everyone else's view.

The only visible feature of Peter that the others could see was a long …

"Blimey you're a worm!" Sirius chuckled.

… tail.

Peter squealed indignantly as he emerged from behind the goblet. He wasn't mightily pleased with being a rat, which he figured he was what with the teeth and size, but being mistaken for a worm was much worse.

"Scratch that, it was just your tail," James corrected. "I guess you are the potions lab rat after all, Petey," he added cheekily.

Peter squeaked again and turned away from them, his long tail dragging behind him.

"Ha! Worm … tail, what's the difference? Hey … Wormtail! There's your name," Sirius cried. Without waiting for confirmation from Peter, who was still scampering around the room, Sirius continued on in a loud voice. "We have our last name ladies and gentleman. We are proud to introduce Mr Prongs, Mr Moony, Mr Padfoot and Mr Wormtail … the Marauders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

"And don't forget criminals now Mr Padfoot," Remus added, but he had to grin. Look at what his friends had just done for him.

James mock groaned, sinking into a nearby seat and covering his face with his hands. "Please don't start with the Messrs again."

**

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****A/N:** Finished. Another chapter finished. I've been wanting to get this one out for a while. The animagi part in particular, I have had going through my mind and finally I've been able to put it into words. I hope you like the little L/J and L/S interaction this chapter as well. Just to make things clear, there will be NO romantic feelings between Lily and Snape. Anyway please review and tell me what you all think.

Thank you so much to the following reviewers:

**Chookstar**: I hope you remain stuck on my story then! Keep on reading, I promise I'll keep on updating.

**Write-on3108:** Borrow my creativity? Sure. That will be 1,000, 000 dollars please! LOL, only joking. As if my creativity is actually worth anything. Actually here in Australia I don't use the terms snogging and stuff. I just got it from reading all those English books, and fanfiction of course! I have a different lingo down under.

**Coolcatjenny**: Thanks, and I'll be sure to tell you about that little incident … eventually. Like most authors I've got it planned for later when the suspense has built up, and the readers wanna throttle me! I've actually written that bit out though.

**Alohomora26**: Wow. Just for me? I can't believe it. Thank you soo much. Never once did I actually believe people liked my story so much. I also have never thought my fic to be intimidating either. When I first started though, I felt the same way. There were all this really excellent fics already existing, Pensieve and Crossroads are two examples, and I thought, I wonder if anyone would read mine? And they did, so please, I hope you write your own story, I'm sure they'll be great and I'll read them!

**Snuffles**: He he just looking at your name is reminding me of something that's gonna happen later in the story. You might find out the origin of that name ;) Anyway, its good that you have reviewed to all my chapters. I just really like the feedback. I was surprised that you like my characterisation of Amos, although he probably won't be making much of an appearance anymore. I also want to say that I was really happy when the OoP came out, and found that my story was quite similar after all. There are differences, which you have already found, but I thought apart from those I'll try and keep it as much the same as possible. Their romance (or lack of it) was pretty much what I thought it would be and I'm really relieved that I started my fic at fifth year after all. I hope you keep on reviewing and thanks!

**Lily**: No don't die, I need all the reviewers I can get! I hope it's not too late for me to update now is it? LOL.

**DRUIDGIRL**: Thanks for reviewing again, and I can understand how you must have felt when your parents caught you laughing at the computer screen. And in answer to your question, back in chapter three I think it was, Sirius wasn't really angry, he himself said that the pranksters behind it would 'reign the throne' so to speak. So as he just found out, he respected Lily (grudgingly). He wants to get her back though of course. And Peter, well he doesn't really do anything on his own unless there are others. So he just kept his pathetic little mouth shut (LOL I guess you can tell I don't like him much)

**babygal**: Thanks, writing the Messrs scene was fun for me as well. I'm glad you like everything so far as well.

**Ella**: LOL I liked that bit too. And the funny thing is, with the whole 'way up low' bit that he sang, it actually happened to me. I sang it like that at school once, even though I knew the song. Tragic but true. LOL.

**puppy_girl:** LOL, I'm not writing a sequel but this story isn't going to finish anytime soon. I think I'll be writing until their deaths, not sure yet though.

**cemhp4eva**: Thanks and here is the next chapter.

**Lily**: LOL I have don't worry. Hope you like it!

**Parselmouth Majere**: He he, like I said before, writing the Misters bit was fun. Glad you liked it. And the quote too. Unfortunately of late, that could be considered to be my life as well. LOL.

**Lily**: no problem sissi, I'm delighted that you chose to review twice. Just makes me feel that much better :)

**LiannesLily**: Thanks I'm happy you don't mind. I just read too much I reckon, so I always have bits and pieces of other stories stuck in my mind as well.

**Stormyweather457**: I didn't think people appreciated my story so much. I'm really pleased that you do. And some of the qualities of my characters are kind of based from real life. Partly from me, my friends and my family. They aren't just of one person though. It's kind of a mixture of them all, if you can understand my rambling.

**Princess TigerLily**: Do you realise how professional your review sounded? It was like reading the reviews that are written with the blurbs at the back of some books! Tell you what if I ever write a book, can you review it? lol. Anyway sorry I'm sounding a bit crazy, but don't worry I'll keep updating.

**Drops-of-winter**: Thank you so much for your review! And don't worry, I didn't make an error with Lily's age because my story is set in the 5th year. I will be continuing on through the rest of their years at Hogwarts as well.

**Chic4412**: Lol. I'll try and update as quickly as possible, but I won't be finishing this story anytime soon. It will end up to be a looong story … I think. I'm glad you think its believable as well :)

**Kiwi**: Yeah, unfortunately I got tired of waiting for the OoP to come out, so I started this story a month before. I was quite pleased that some of my predictions were true, but there are some differences that I really don't wanna change. Like James being a prefect, and Arabella not being a squib and an old woman. Other than that, I will try and follow the OoP, so that little tidbit we got in the book might follow up later. And don't worry, I'm a fanfiction nerd too. Why do u think I started writing? ;)

**Sissi**: Thanks, I was hoping that they would be characterised the same as the book was, and I'm really happy that other people like yourself think so too.

**Diana**: You like my funnies? Lol, sorry that bit sounded stupid. Thanks for reviewing and its good to know that you can see there is a gradual change going on with some of the characters, cough*James*cough. Nothing too fast, but going somewhere all the same.


	11. The Ball or a disaster waiting to happen...

**Title: **Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Spoilers: **Written before Ootp, HBP & DH but contains some spoilers.

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Forewords:** Boy, what a busy week I've had! I started to write this chapter straight away but then I got caught up in an 18th birthday frenzy! A friend had her party on Saturday night, meaning I had to go out and buy a present, yell at her boyfriend to give her a decent present, and then restrain myself from slapping this freaky guy who would not leave me alone!

Anyway, I'm sure you all don't need to hear about my boring life. I just thought I would you some good excuses if this chapter isn't up to its usual standards! Right … moving on!

**

* * *

**

**Diametrically Opposed**

******

* * *

**

**Chapter Eleven**

_The Ball, or a disaster waiting to happen?_

_.._

After receiving some disturbing news from the Head Boy two weeks before the Ball, James strode over to where Lily and her friends were sitting for lunch, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Evans, can I speak with you for a moment?" he asked politely as she turned around.

Lily merely stared blankly up at James. Since when was Potter polite?

James sighed at her reaction. It wouldn't hurt her to think he could be responsible sometimes … "Its _prefect_ business," he explained.

At that, Lily stood up without another word (as James knew she would), and followed him out of the Great Hall and down into another hallway.

She leant against the wall as James stopped, and waited expectantly for him to inform her of any recent news.

"Well … " James begun slowly, then another thought springing into his mind. "Actually, there is something that I'd like to say first that isn't prefect related."

Lily wasn't sure she wanted to hear this. "Like?" she prompted unenthusiastically.

"Like I knew you wouldn't just stand by and let Josh get away with it." James said, a triumphant smirk spreading across his face.

Lily's eyes widened in mock shock. "Whatever do you mean?" she cried.

"_Please. _The whole school knows you were the one that put Josh in the hospital wing. Why couldn't you just admit it to me that day?"

Lily dropped the façade instantly, scowling. "Like I said before, it was never any of your concern for what I did. Besides, I don't recall denying that I wouldn't hex him, just that _you_ wouldn't."

"You could have just told me, Evans," James repeated mulishly.

"As distressing as this might sound to you right now, Potter," she replied back sarcastically, "the world does _not_ revolve around you. I have had other _better_ and more important things to do."

"What could be more important than me?" he asked cockily.

"I can think of plenty far more important things than you in an instant. My lunch for starters," she pointed out forcefully. "Then there's other things like-" She began to count on her fingers, "-my _potions_ homework, preparation for the ball, my date for the ball-"

James cut her off. "Ha! You should have said yes to me when you had the chance, Evans."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Did I ever say 'finding' a date for the ball? I think not, because I already have a date-"

"A date? Who is it then?" demanded James. Lily smirked, and crossed her arms stubbornly.

James sighed. "Someone from Gryffindor?" he ventured. Lily shook her head. James furrowed a brow, and Lily practically saw the wheels turning in James' head.

"Ravenclaw? Hufflepuff?" Each question was answered by a shake of her head.

James' face betrayed his shock. "Surely you don't mean you're going with a Slytherin? The only guy you really talk to in Slytherin is that slimy git Snivellus…" he trailed off and looked at Lily, an absolutely ridiculous idea forming in his head. _Surely not …_

Lily didn't answer, but a sheepish expression crossed her face. She even considered raising her hands to her ears to deafen his imminent yells, but dismissed that idea as it might make him more agitated.

Lily simply decided to wait as James began to suck in a particularly deep breath.

Sure enough …

"That GIT is your DATE?" James shouted. (Sirius later told James that he had heard the screaming all the way from the Great Hall.) "You've GOT to be kidding me? You said yes to him but not _me_?"

Lily nodded, anger now replacing her embarrassment. What right did he have to act all offended? It wasn't his life after all.

"He asked me, and I accepted," she said. "The difference is _he_ never asked me out of pity. We agreed to go as acquaintances to the Ball and seeing as we are both prefects it solved our problem for having to find someone to open the dance with. Nothing more, nothing less."

A grin suddenly tugged at James' mouth, which surprised Lily slightly. That wasn't the reaction she was expecting from him. In actual fact, Lily was prepared with her wand to prevent him from killing her or something equally as catastrophic … not this … maybe he was going insane, she thought hopefully.

"That's just it, your little problem isn't solved Evans," he replied finally. He looked two seconds away from rubbing his hands together in glee. "That's the _prefect_ thing I came to speak to you about."

That gained Lily's full attention.

"What?"

"Prefects now have to dance with their house partners, not just any prefects," Catching the look on her face James added, "I really shouldn't have had to tell you. You of all people should of known that already, you _always_ know _everything _… "

Lily's jaw dropped and she turned bright red, "I didn't hear anything about that. You're lying."

James smirked as he explained. "I'm not lying. Somebody _suggested_ that idea to the Head Boy and Girl last night. They thought it was an excellent idea, as did Dumbledore and decided to mention it at tomorrow's prefect meeting."

"Why on earth would somebody do such a thing?" Lily screeched.

"How am I supposed to know? I'm just relaying it to you after bumping into Michael, so don't kill the messenger," he replied defensively. "Anyway I thought you might be glad now. At first I thought because you didn't have a date, but now you won't have to be going with Snape anymore. Now you don't need him to be your dance partner. That's sure to make things up between us, isn't it?"

"How? By forcing me to dance with you? How many times do I have to say it before it gets through that thick head of yours. I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! I am quite capable of handling myself in any situat-"

James interjected, "It's obvious you can't … Look at who you chose for a date. _SNIVELLUS!_ A slimy, worthless, prejudiced, dark arts fanatic. You should be thanking me for not having to dance with him."

"DON'T CALL HIM THAT!" shouted Lily, her face flushed with anger. "Just because you two have issues between each other gives you no right to force your opinion on others! I can go with _whomever_ I want to, regardless of your support."

"I can't believe you don't see what Snivellus is really like," urged James. He had to get her to see what he meant, before she made a mistake by going with Snape. "He is completely surrounded by dark arts, and I am certain his parents are involved with the new Dark Lord. You've seen the hexes he has sent at me before. You _know_ they aren't part of the school's curriculum."

He sighed, shaking his head regretfully as he added, "For a school prefect, you're awfully dense about certain things."

"Dense? You think I'm dense? Look at yourself. You can't even see past the typical school prejudices," Lily said scornfully. "Just because people are in different houses from you doesn't mean that they aren't human."

James snapped back angrily, "_I know that_. But you can't defend the Slytherins' actions. You should be the first person to admit how bad they are, calling you- " Here he paused shamefully, not wanting to say the offending word. "- what they call you all the time. I know you can't stand them, just as I can't. It's inexcusable."

"Yes I agree that not all of them are pleasant … but the key words there are 'not all'. Severus is not like that to me and though he hates you and at times, provokes you into attacking him, this feud is not one-sided. The way you and Sirius retaliate towards him is absolutely ludicrous. I wouldn't be surprised if one day you ended up killing each other," Lily ranted, "… and then where would that leave you?"

"I'm not going to pretend that I'd care if Snivellus went and got himself killed," James declared heartlessly. "It would only be because he was out killing innocent people along with the rest of his death eater friends."

James was prepared to say more, but was cut off when he caught sight of a group of timid second year students over Lily's shoulder. They had obviously heard the screaming and were reluctant to come any closer for fear of being included in the well known 'Potter/Evans stand-offs'.

Sensing James' sudden silence, Lily turned around to face the now terrified second years. She took a deep breath, and forced herself to take on a calm voice.

"I think we've gotten way off topic. Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

James absently ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up on its end and Lily seethe inwardly. How she _hated_ it when he did that to his hair! It just made her want to tape it back down ... set it on fire … shave it … any of those suggestions sounded quite tempting at the moment.

"Uh, just one …" James broke off hesitantly, before stating, "As we are now dance partners, I just want to know if you can uh- dance?"

And with that one statement, it became apparent to Lily that she would never willingly dance with Potter. She would find a way out of dancing with him, or she would die trying. Not even her mind could conjure up an image of the two dancing together … having to lay her hands on him, and vice versa. Just the thought of being in such close proximity made her sick to the stomach.

With a finality ringing in her tone, Lily hissed determinedly, "That is irrelevant because there is NO way I'm going to dance with you. I draw the line at this. _Working_ with you is worse enough…" shouted Lily, turning around to leave.

"…if you can even call it that," she added under her breath, but James heard and his eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, well working with you is no picnic either, Evans," he called out to her angrily before storming off to meet his friends outside. He wasn't pleased with Lily's choice of a date, and he would make sure that Snivellus would pay for it at the Ball… in whichever way he and the Marauders could.

* * *

That night at the prefect meeting, Lily and James deliberately positioned themselves on opposite sides of the room, Lily still seething from their last encounter.

Lisa, the Head Girl stood in front of the prefects, and just like James had told Lily, went into a lengthy explanation of the new changes to the opening dance. As predicted, most of the attention was focused on Lily and James and their possible reaction. Everybody knew the hostility between the two, and were expecting to witness some sort of outburst at the news.

However, seeing as they had both heard the news prior to the meeting, Lily and James remained silent, although there was an occasional glare thrown each other's way.

There were other minor reports that were discussed, but Lily's mind was elsewhere. She was desperately thinking of ways to avoid dancing with Potter. Unfortunately, the only ways she could come up with weren't exactly … subtle … so that wouldn't work.

" … And Michael and I would like Lily and James to stay back for a few moments after the meeting please," Lisa finally finished, dismissing everyone with a tight smile.

After everyone else had left the meeting, Lisa motioned for Lily and James to sit down again. They did so, grudgingly.

"Now, we know that you two don't particularly get along very well …" Michael, the Head Boy began.

"That's the understatement of the year," Lily murmured softly. Only James heard her, and threw her a filthy look.

"… Yes well, we just want to make it clear that we won't stand for anymore arguments between you two. At least until after the Ball," Lisa cut in decisively.

Lily decided to drop all pretences. "With all due respect, I can't dance with Potter," she stated, stubbornly folding her arms in front of her. "If you honestly want the Ball to continue as planned, then you won't make us dance together."

The two Heads shared an exasperated look. "I'm afraid that's not an option, Lily," Michael spoke firmly. "Dumbledore has specifically told us that he wants us to go with our own houses. He says it is to get you all to learn how to work together. After all, you will be expected to work together again next year if you remain prefects, and most likely seventh year as well so you might as well learn to get along."

"Have _you_ worked with Evans?" James asked disbelievingly. "Do you know how much of a _nightmare_ she is?"

"_Hey_, I resent that Potter, especially seeing as its coming from you-"

"ENOUGH!" Michael exclaimed loudly. "This is exactly what we don't want from you two."

Lily dropped her gaze onto the floor in shame, and James flashed an apologetic grin.

"Now we want you two to behave maturely towards each other, otherwise we will put you both on probation."

Lily gasped in shock. "_Probation?_"

"I know it seems a bit extreme, but we can't afford to mess the Ball up," Lisa justified, almost apologetically. "This is the first Ball that Hogwarts has had for many years, and I do not want _anything_ to go wrong."

Michael stood up slowly, gathering the meeting's papers. "So we just wanted to warn you that we wont stand for anything."

"Fine."

"Fine."

And with that, Lily and James stormed out of the room, Lily mumbling incoherently under her breath and James glowering.

* * *

The next morning Lily shuffled her way to breakfast and dumped herself next to Arabella, who greeted her with a wary grin.

"So what's happened now?" Bella asked curiously. "You've been gloomy ever since Potter dragged you off to talk to him yesterday."

Not wanting her friends to cause yet another scene, Lily had omitted from her friends the reason Potter had pulled her aside the day before. After all, up until the disastrous meeting, she had been so sure that she'd somehow be able to finagle her way out it.

Lily groaned, knowing she couldn't keep it a secret any longer. "I have to dance with Potter at the Ball."

"_Potter_?" Bella screeched. "Are they insane? Do they not realise that there might not be a Hogwarts standing after the Ball if you have to go near him?"

"Yeah, I tried to tell them that, but they wouldn't listen," Lily replied frustratingly, pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice. She spilt just about half of it onto the table in her anger. "I'm still going to try and worm out of it, but after being shot down by the Heads, it's not looking very likely."

"I guess it's not that bad. I mean, now you don't have to go with Snape because you two _were_ only going together for the opening dance."

Lily frowned disapprovingly. Ever since she had told Bella about going with Severus to the ball, Bella had been determined to stop it from happening. As much as Lily hated to admit it, Bella was acting as irrational as Potter was.

"I just can't back out now," protested Lily. "That would be extremely rude, plus it's not as if we are going to be together the whole night. He told me the other day that it was just a formality and that we should feel free to go and talk to our own separate groups of … friends for the night."

Lily didn't mention the exact phrasing that Severus put to her about her 'friends', as she gathered Bella wouldn't be entirely too pleased with the language. She hated him enough as it was.

"You and your damn morality, Lily." Bella complained, childishly slamming her fist down onto the table.

* * *

"So… when are we going to go through with this prank, Prongs?" Sirius asked James eagerly during Defence Against the Dark Arts. Their professor was currently testing the students one by one, so the rest of the class were pretty much free to do as they liked … Obviously, this meant some planning time for the four Marauders.

"Not until after the Ball," moaned James, jabbing at his desk with his quill.

Sirius looked scandalised. "What? Why?"

"Because Prongs here and Lily have been warned by the Head Boy and Girl to play nice to each other until after the Ball," Remus replied smoothly, not looking up from his DADA book.

"How did you know that, Moony?" James enquired.

"I heard Lily mumbling to herself as she walked down to breakfast this morning. She seemed quite put out if you ask me."

"She's talking to herself about me?" James grinned at the thought, then groaned. " And I can't even say anything back to her … this is unbelievable."

"Who cares about that right now? You're talking about postponing our prank!" cried Sirius.

Peter added in an indignant, "Yeah!" as he scooted his chair over. "I still haven't managed to live down that bloody pom pom hat. The sticking charm on it almost took off all my hair!"

"I can't help it," James objected. "My hands are completely tied down. We just have to wait an extra three weeks or so … then we can do it."

Sirius' face fell, and he angrily stupefied a fly buzzing past. "I knew your prefect duties would get in the way of things," he grumbled.

"It doesn't mean we can't prank other people, Padfoot," James pointed out reasonably. He didn't want to admit to himself that Sirius was right.

"I guess," Sirius admitted reluctantly, then added in a lighter tone, "I have been itching to try those extra strength dungbombs for a while …"

"That's the spirit," Remus said idly, turning a page in his book.

* * *

"I can't believe I have to do this," grumbled Lily, reluctantly accepting James' hand to walk onto the dance floor.

It was finally the night of the Ball.

To the surprise of many, Lily and James had managed to obey the Head Students' wishes and not kill each other for two weeks, but one wagered how long it would last once the Ball had ended. Lily had still been dead against the dancing, but no matter how hard she had objected over the past couple of weeks, the Head Boy and Girl had remained firm in their decision, so here she was, forced to dance with _him_.

Lily had to admit that the Great Hall looked spectacular when she had the chance to look around. The usual Christmas ornaments had been discarded for a more dramatic setting. There were Christmas trees as high as the ceiling, scattered around the edges of the Hall. They were covered with sparkling golden decorations that seemed to light up the room. Snow was lightly falling from the ceiling as always, with animated snowman singing Christmas carols. The tables themselves were covered in beautiful white tablecloths, and the benches had been replaced by individual chairs marking the colours of each House.

It was too bad she couldn't enjoy it with someone else. Lily scowled as she turned back to James as they reached the dance floor. This was the moment she'd been dreading.

"Yeah, well I'm not too excited by this either," replied James, who grumpily placed his other hand on Lily's waist, ready for the dance to start. James couldn't help but grin when he added, "but at least it gets you away from that damn Slytherin."

Lily's eyes flashed dangerously, and her fingernails painfully dug into his soft palm. James winced and had to stop himself from pulling away.

"Watch what you say Potter," she warned, turning her head to smile sweetly at the table they passed. James saw this and flashed his trademark grin at the same table. Even the girls with dates visibly swooned at this.

"Didn't think you could actually overshadow me, did you?" he whispered in her ear. Lily pulled back slowly, determined to not let him get to her.

"Don't think you can provoke me into another fight, Potter," she shot back. James just shrugged as they danced past the Head Boy and Girl, who were dancing together on the fringes of the dance floor, and shooting apprehensive looks in their direction every few seconds.

"I was merely stating the fact that no matter how hard you try, it's impossible for you to outshine me … especially since you can't even seem to get a proper date to a simple dance," he finished with a satisfied smirk, knowing that he had struck a sore point, but no longer caring.

As the song grew to an end, Lily's face flushed red and tears began to prick the corners of her eyes.

"You will never grow up Potter," huffed Lily, discreetly grinding her heel into his right foot before breaking apart and walking away.

* * *

Headmaster Dumbledore leaned over to Professor McGonagall, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Seems Miss Evans and Mr Potter are getting along quite well, don't you think, Minerva?" stated Dumbledore, nodding his head in the direction of the two students who were dancing together for the opening dance. McGonagall nodded, quite surprised that they weren't both hexing each other by now. A sudden thought came to her and she turned around to look at Dumbledore suspiciously.

"You didn't do anything did you, Albus?" she asked. Dumbledore chuckled.

"No Minerva, they did it on their own-" At that point they both saw Lily's heel painfully meeting Potter's foot before walking over to the punch table.

"Obviously it didn't last long," McGonagall added smugly.

"You never know Minerva, you never know."

* * *

Lily snatched a cup from the table and started pouring some punch into it, realising all too late that she didn't really feel like drinking any. Luckily Snape came up to her. He'd clearly noticed her abrupt departure, and eagerly left his own uncomfortable dance.

Lily silently offered her cup to Snape, who accepted it with a nod.

"You want to talk about it?" asked Snape.

"No," snapped Lily. Snape looked at her expectantly, and she sighed. "Potter is so impossible," she elaborated. Snape raised an eyebrow.

"And it took you so long to find that out?" he asked, a rare hint of amusement apparent in his voice. "I thought you knew that already?"

"No I did … it's just there is no use trying to get anything through to him, and it's just so-"

"Irritating?" Snape finished. Lily nodded slowly.

"Yeah." Lily stopped, and hesitated slightly before saying, "You know that he is pissed off at me for going with you? Said I shouldn't even be _thinking_ of going with a Slytherin, let alone going with you."

"It's not difficult to ascertain what his reaction would be," Snape sneered.

"-That's only because you're a slimy git who doesn't belong with her, _Snivellus_," said James, appearing from behind them, Sirius and Remus not far behind. "She belongs with her own kind."

Snape scowled at James. He was quick to pull out his wand, James following suit. Before they could do anything though, a jug of pumpkin juice suddenly was poured…

…right onto James face.

"I don't need you to be my protector, Potter. I can think rationally on my own," spat Lily, holding the now empty jug of pumpkin juice and watching in satisfaction as James spluttered nonsense. Waiting for him to finish, she added heatedly, "And I certainly don't belong with anyone, least of all y_ou_."

She slammed the jug down on the table and stalked out of the Great Hall, head held high, but inwardly feeling like screaming bloody murder.

It was most unfortunate that an inebriated Josh chose this time to stumble in her path. He barely called out a, "Hey hows it go-?" before she whipped her wand out of her pocket and hissed-

"_Furnunculus_."

She could hear his screams echoing throughout the castle as she ran madly towards the common room. Once inside, she changed out of her dress robes and hopped into bed. The last thing she wanted was to remember the stupid Ball.

Nothing was sacred when Potter was around. All she had wanted was a chance to have fun at the Ball. Dance a little, enjoy the company of friends, and maybe even meet somebody new. But Potter was always there to remind her just how impossible that was. She'd never met someone so determined to ruin everything good in her life, not even Petunia.

And it was just so unfair …

**

* * *

**

****

A/N: What do you think of James' reaction and the Ball? Was it too quick? Please tell me!

He he, I loved everybody's reaction to Snape and Lily going to the Ball. I don't like the idea of a relationship between Snape and Lily either so don't worry it will never ever happen. In fact, things are going to change soon … oops I wasn't meant to say that. Uh, and the long awaited 'incident' is going to be explained as well, most likely in 2 chapters time.

Oh, and the last bit with Josh was especially for BlueEyedWildMage who wanted to see more punishment for Josh!

Once again thanks to the following reviewers (which I must say has increased dramatically over the last couple of chapters):

**Zane Lupin**: _Hey that's no problem. You made up for it with your review. It was great! I did what you suggested with the whole Peter comment, because I agreed with you. I just didn't know what to say at the time. I'd also say at the moment, you aren't reading too much into things. James does think about her … that's true, but in what way? As you said, I'm the author, so I do know of course, and at the moment I'm deliberately putting these things in to make people think. I won't tell you anymore though. I do have to add that this 'incident' will be mentioned in the next couple of chapters, and it's one of the first things I wrote when I started this story. It will be worth the wait … I hope. You just have to wait until after the Ball._

**Kiwi:** _Jealous could be an understatement, but you've got to read on to find out._

_**Cassie:**__ Thanks for reviewing, and I promise I'll write more._

_**Write-on3108:**__ Is this soon enough? If not I'm sorry, I've been a bit preoccupied this week._

**Cehmp4eva:** _Thanks, I hope that means you'll keep on reading and reviewing then!_

**Snuffles:** _Yes well I don't think James is a prick 100% of the time. Lol, he's bound to be nice sometimes, in his own little way. I'm glad you think I haven't made Snape too nice. I was always worried when I wrote him that it wouldn't sound enough like him, seeing as he is so much of a git in the future. And don't worry I won't ever leave you hanging for more than a week at the most. I love reading fics too, and there's nothing more annoying than waiting for them to be updated ... that is if they ever do get updated, which is even worse._

**Parselmouth Majere:** _Yeah I have to agree with you there. I mean its so obvious the names aren't just going to pop up in their heads for no reason at all. After reading this chapter over again, I think I should have said a bit more to make it even more believable, but I couldn't think of anything else._

**Diana:** _I hope this is fast enough for ya! And I hope you keep on liking my chapters! Its great to know people actually wait for my story to be updated._

**TheStek:** _Yes … very interesting indeed. You'll just have to read on for that._

**Lily:** _Wow, you do that? For my story? I mean I can relate. I do that to tons of other stories, but I just didn't think my story was one of them! I hope you do another little dance around the room because here is another chapter (obviously) lol._

**Chookstar:** _lol, don't worry I would never do anything like that. Sheesh this is a Lily/James fic, not disgusting Lily/Severus. I just know that Snape will be the one guy that James will react the most to, if you know what I mean … and the reaction is gonna be good._

**Anarane Anwamane:** _Thank you! Keep on reviewing please!_

**Purple Spotted Hedwig:** _I don't know. That review didn't seem very special or ecstatic to me. ;) lol. Nah I loved it. REALLY! Keep on reviewing like that, and you'll make me a very happy girl!_

**Laur:** _Thanks, I'm quite partial to L/J fics myself. I've read so many, I've lost count._

**DRUIDGIRL:** _Don't worry, I shudder at those kinds of fics too. I don't entirely like Snape either, but I have this idea that I will be using in the future. Thanks!_

**Kelsey Potter Black:** _Well here you go, another chapter. I hope you like it. I must say I found it pretty funny too when I read what you wrote on the fanfiction board. It is rather weird, lol._

**Drops-of-winter:** _Thanks, I love their arguments too, because they are so fun to write. Yes they are going to go together but you'll find out some other things in this chapter that might make you a bit more happier. And I'm not sure about how the whole age thing works over in England, because I'm an Aussie. I just assumed it didn't matter, because Lily's b'day is only 4 months from Harry's. It's still the same year. Ah well, im sorry anyway._

**Alohomora:** _I'm sorry that your disappointed with Lily and Snape, but I guarantee you, that things might be a bit better … and I wont be focusing on them together that much as well. And I respond to all the reviewers (like yourself) because you have all been nice enough to read my story … and keep on wanting to read it, which is a definite bonus for me!_

**Ivy Crane:** _Lol, I just couldn't figure out another valid way of determining Peter's nickname._

**Lady Tiffy:**_ Well here's more for you. :)_

**BlueEyedWildmage:** _Don't worry, I hate it when I used to get grounded. Thank goodness it hasn't happened in a while. It is definitely weird that you seem to be soo much like Lily … then again maybe I'm a seer, just like 'Trelawney' … and I knew that you would read it, if it was about you … lol. Sorry, I'm in a crazy mood again. Definitely too much vanilla coke tonight, it makes me hyper. Just one last thing, I've tried to make Peter come off as a rather timid guy, because I always believed that he was more likely to stand behind them, rather than always contribute. I'll try and involve Peter more though, and more likeable (if that's possible). Thanks for your input, and I hope you don't get grounded again, so you can keep on reviewing_


	12. A sticky situation

**Title: **Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Spoilers: **Written before Ootp, HBP & DH but contains some spoilers.

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Forewords:** Right, if it wasn't for stupid being down for the past three/four days, I probably … wouldn't have had the next chapter out anyway. Nah, just kidding, I would have had the next one posted. I'm really sorry that I've taken longer than normal to update. It's just I have uni starting up again in a week so I've been really busy with other things.

There's only one thing I want to add before the chapter. I have started a new story about Harry's sixth year, so I'm going to try and alternate between the two fics on updates. I'll still update each fic within a week, but not two or three days time like I did before. Sorry, and please don't kill me!

* * *

**Diametrically Opposed**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**

_A Sticky Situation_

_.._

Feeling an odd sense of deja-vu, James watched Lily storm out of the Hall. The only difference this time was that he was watching amidst the blur of his now pumpkin covered glasses. James turned back to Sirius, all attention on Snape now forgotten, who had snuck away quietly as he usually did.

"What just happened?" he cried out stupidly, cringing as the pumpkin juice dripped irritatingly down the collar of his robes. He removed his glasses, and wiped the juice off onto his robes.

"I'd say that Evans _really _didn't want any pumpkin juice," Sirius replied infuriatingly, his face contorting in an obvious effort to hold back a smirk.

James scowled. "Glad you thought it was amusing," he growled, grabbing half a dozen serviettes from the nearest table, with his other hand and dabbing them to his now very sticky face. He didn't trust himself to clean his face with his wand.

"And just _what_ are you looking at?" he hissed menacingly, suddenly aware that everyone's attention was still centred on him.

Everyone other than the other three Marauders quickly turned away. They all knew the extent of James' temper and being drowned with pumpkin juice was bound to worsen it.

"It seems Lily didn't fall for your _irresistible_ charm, Prongs," commented Remus, putting his wand back into his pocket and leading them all back to their table. He sat down and motioned for the others to follow suit.

"I wasn't trying to charm her," James snapped, reluctantly sitting down.

"That's exactly my point."

"I never asked for this. It was entirely her doing this time," protested James. "I-

"- Took her personal life to be your business," Remus interrupted smoothly. "Yes I know … but the question is why?"

"It's Snivellus," James replied simply, as though it were obvious.

"Is that all it is?" Peter asked curiously.

James groaned. "Don't you start on me too, Wormtail."

"You are taking a lot more interest in Evans now though," Sirius added thoughtfully. "I mean, you're acting quite protective of her, aren't you?"

James laughed incredulously. "Protective? You've gotta be kidding me. She. Was. Going. With. Snivellus. How could I just stand there and let her make the biggest mistake of her life?"

"Oh come off it James," Remus berated. "It's not as though they were getting married or something."

Evans marrying Snape? James suppressed a shudder at the very thought.

"I s'pose so …" sighed James, conceding defeat and slumping down in his chair. He attempted a last ditch effort as he added, "… but you know as well as I do that Snape didn't deserve to go with her. He's a filthy Slytherin and she's a Gryffindor. Where did that slimy git go to anyway?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the Slytherin table. Snape's spot was suspiciously empty.

"He made a dash for it after Evans finished pouring all the available pumpkin juice on you," Peter answered with a snicker.

"He really needs to be taught a lesson on manners," James said darkly.

A manic grin spread across Sirius' face. "I know just the people to teach him," suggested Sirius.

"-Teach who what?" The Head-Girl Lisa said angrily, catching them off-guard as she suddenly appeared behind them with the Head-Boy Michael. "Because unless it's teaching James here how to follow orders, I am going to _scream_."

"I didn't just happen to pour that juice on myself you know," James argued defensively. "In case you hadn't noticed, there was Evans behind that jug of pumpkin juice, who _deliberately_ aimed for my face."

"We know about her role and that won't be going unpunished … but we saw you intentionally provoking Lily and Snape before that," Michael stated firmly, placing a calming hand on Lisa's arm.

"I was merely congratulating the _lovely_ Evans on her dancing. It's not my fault if she can't take compliments well."

Lisa scowled. "We specifically said for you to behave until the Ball-"

"Well in a way we did. I don't recall you saying anything about _being_ at the Ball."

"You're _extremely_ lucky that we can't put you on probation for this," Lisa said tersely. "Unfortunately, Professor Dumbledore seemed to find it highly amusing … said that it helped to lift the spirits of everyone at the Ball and that-," Lisa scowled, looking reluctant to say the next bit, "bathing in or washing yourself with pumpkin juice is actually not against any school rules."

"Yeah he said that he'd even done it on occasion," Michael said wryly.

"So all we can do is deduct ten points each from Gryffindor, and give you both a detention."

"Not together I hope," James asked, aghast at even the thought.

"Depends on what Filch assigns you. Now if you'll excuse us, we need to go fix up _your_ mess," said Lisa, grabbing Michael's arm and steering him away from the Marauders.

James groaned, watching them leave. "If I end up having a detention with Evans, remind me to kill myself," he complained.

"Just remember to specifically state in your will that I, Sirius Black inherit your broomstick," replied Sirius, grabbing a pumpkin pasty.

"Aren't you being helpful tonight?" James drawled sarcastically, then sighed. "Come tomorrow and you might actually get that broom … and even if she doesn't do anything to me tomorrow, she'll be sure to after we do that prank."

Sirius shrugged indifferently, helping himself to a pumpkin pasty. "So it's a lose/lose situation. That always happens with you and Evans."

"Can we get out of here?" James asked, changing the subject abruptly, as he realised that his date, Emily was approaching him. "I really don't want to have to sit here smelling on bloody pumpkin juice any longer." And he really didn't. That and having to listen to Emily giggle and carry on about nothing for the rest of the night didn't sound the least bit appealing.

"You might have that problem but I sure as hell don't," Sirius replied airily, rising dramatically from the table and puffing his chest importantly. "If you don't mind there are ladies waiting …"

He shuffled off, throwing a devilish grin at the three Marauders.

Peter snorted. "You'd think the way he was talking, that he was doing everyone a favour by showing up."

"Now you're thinking like Padfoot – _Oh no_." James attempted to hide but it was too late. Along with about two of her giggling friends, Emily had arrived at their table.

"Hi James, I'm so sorry about what Lily did to you," Emily gushed apologetically, slipping her hand into his.

"Yeah thanks," James replied awkwardly, desperately shooting furtive looks at Remus and Peter, who nodded. With a visible effort, he managed to untangle his hand from hers, and stood up. "Look, I'm really sorry about this, but I'm all sticky. I'm just going to go back to the common room with Remus and Peter."

"Oh that's ok. I'll wait for you."

"_No_," James shouted, then cleared his throat apologetically as Emily's eyes widened. " … I mean no thanks, but you see I might not come back. Evans really soured my mood, and I really wouldn't be good company for you."

Emily pouted, but stood up to give him a peck on the cheek. "Alright, you're so sweet, James. Always thinking of others."

If it wasn't for Remus' derisive snort, James would have almost believed her.

As she walked back to her own table, James punched Remus in the arm. "You'll ruin my reputation if you do that," he warned.

"Doing what?" asked Remus, coyly. "You seem quite capable of ruining your own reputation."

James sighed as they all set off for the common room. "I've really screwed things up now, haven't I?"

"If you mean 'screwed' as in 'she's-never-going-to-want-to-talk-to-you-again', then I'd say yes," replied Remus.

"-Or screwed as in 'if-she-sees-you-she'll-hex-you' –" Peter added.

"-Or kill you-"

"You know she might even transfigure something other than your face this time, Prongs."

"I bet you she's looking up curses as we speak," Remus wagered merrily.

"Sure, laugh at my expense," James grumbled. "But when you find me sharing a toilet cubicle with Myrtle, and comparing stories about the problems of wearing glasses, then you'll realise just how serious this situation was."

"Alright, alright – all I can say to you is this. You really got yourself into a sticky situation this time Prongs."

"Very funny, Wormtail, _very_ funny."

* * *

The Great Hall was full of talk as Sirius sauntered in the next morning.

_"Did you hear?"_

_"-his face-"_

_"-covered in boils"_

_"-hospital wing again."_

"That's not Prongs they're talking about, is it?" Sirius asked Remus as he joined him and Peter at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. "Because the last I saw of him was when he headed out for the quidditch pitch and he seemed intact then."

"Nah, Josh again. Apparently when people said that Evans was on the warpath, they _really_ meant warpath," Peter replied for Remus, through a mouthful of bacon. "She got him on her way back to the common room last night."

"Yeah earned herself another detention," Remus said, helping himself to another piece of toast. "She's had more this year than in her other four years here."

"I bet you Prongs won't be happy to hear what she did," Sirius commented in amusement. "As it is, I heard him practicing the shield charm in the bathroom."

"I don't think this new detention will lighten her mood much either, so he better watch out," replied Remus, grinning slightly in the direction of Arabella and Sionell. "Bella told me she's quite unapproachable at the moment, so no one has even dared to tell her about the other detention, let alone this one."

"Not a good idea to play the prank yet then?" guessed Sirius.

Remus nodded in affirmation.

"Ah well, it can wait," Sirius relented, obviously disappointed. "I'd rather have James live for another few weeks anyway."

"The full moon is coming up in a week though, Padfoot," Peter piped in excitedly.

"How could I forget?" Remus murmured quietly.

Peter winced. "Sorry Moony, it's just we can finally keep you company in our an-"

"-Wormtail keep it quiet," Sirius interrupted harshly. "We'll talk about it later in our dorms with Prongs. We don't want to announce it to everybody."

"Sorry Padfoot," Peter apologised meekly.

"It's alright, Wormtail," replied Sirius. "It's just there are so many people who wouldn't hesitate to reveal us if they overheard us talking-" he broke off and cast a pointed glare at Bertha Jonkins, (7th year Hufflepuff girl and Hogwart's biggest gossiper) who was walking past their table.

Peter gulped anxiously. "I won't do it again," he promised, but then shifted his attention to the Great Hall doors, which had opened with a bang.

Not surprisingly, it was James who entered into the Great Hall … but there was one alteration to his mood since last night … he seemed to be in an unusually cheerful mood. Flung casually over one shoulder was his beloved shooting star. His face was flushed red with excitement, and his hair blown in all directions … in other words, even messier than usual.

To most people, he seemed carefree and a poser, but to the Marauders they could see he was still hanging onto the pure exaltation from his early morning flying session … something, which always seemed to clear his mind.

"Good morning," James chirped, as he finally reached the table. He slid down the bench to sit beside Sirius, but not before carefully leaning his broomstick against the table.

"I see the usual flying session has improved your spirits," Sirius noted.

James grinned and his eyes flashed anew with exhilaration. "It stopped snowing, but the wind was _wild _and-"

"Seen Lily this morning?" Remus asked cautiously.

"-and the world suddenly comes crashing back down." James scowled. "Thanks for that, Moony. Like I really needed to be reminded that _she's _lurking out there somewhere."

"Actually, _she's _lurking right behind you."

James heart practically leapt to his throat as he spun around to face Lily, who was smirking. Her friends Arabella and Sionell had stood up and were on either side of her, both looking at him as though he was about to become extinct. He forced a pleasant smile to his face, but discreetly reached for his broom … maybe he could make a run for it … or a fly?

"Good morning Evans," Sirius greeted. "Sleep well?"

The smirk remained on Lily's face, although it was momentarily replaced with a scowl.

"I slept magnificently," she replied graciously, "Leaving the ball early definitely gave me more time to sleep." Lily turned to James and continued on smugly, "-and some very pleasant dreams."

"Another girl dreaming about the illustrious James Potter," sighed Sirius, fanning himself with his hand. "How flattering it must be for you, Prongs."

"Oh yes, dreaming about Potter is one of my most _pleasant_ dreams … " she drawled, making James cringe. "Especially the ones where he ends up as an unrecognisable heap in St Mungos."

"That would be one of my favourites too," Sirius agreed mischievously, giving James a nudge, who finally regained his voice.

"I –uh – I'm glad to hear you slept well then," he spluttered foolishly, then desperately searched the hall for another source of conversation. His eyes rested on the Hufflepuff table where Michael was sitting and he added without thinking, "Oh – Michael and Lisa wanted to – speak to you this morning as well."

Immediately Lily's face changed to one of concern and anxiety. "What about?" she asked.

James coughed uncomfortably. "I think it'd be better if you asked them yourself."

Turning to her friends, Lily excused herself hurriedly and went to talk to Michael. At the same time, James and the rest of the Marauders made their hasty exit.

"Close call," Sirius murmured to James.

James could only nod in reply.

* * *

After finding out she had acquired another two detentions, Lily was infuriated. At first she had been riddled with anger for James for ruining her time at the Ball, but the two detentions had discouraged her from any more revenge, along with the threat that she could lose her prefect badge.

Therefore, for the next week, when they were unable to avoid each other, their confrontations followed that morning's example and nothing radical would occur.

Lily was still seething with anger each time they exchanged looks, but she shrugged it off when her friends asked her about it. She didn't want anyone to know that it really did affect her. However, a week after the Ball was their next prefects meeting, and Lily was dreading it. Spending more time with Potter was definitely not her idea of fun.

The day came, and Lily was prepared. As usual she had completed all the tasks set out by the Head Boy and Girl, even though half was meant to be assigned to Potter.

As Lily waited patiently in the prefects meeting room that night, her thoughts mulled over the meeting's issues. She was brought out of her reverie by the Lisa who cleared her throat loudly.

"Right, now that I have got everyone's attention, I want to congratulate _most_ of you on a brilliant job at the Ball. It was a success other than a few _incidents_." At this she stopped and looked meaningfully at Lily and James. Lily hung her head down in shame, but James simply glowered.

"Not my fault," James protested. Lily shot him a look.

"Like _anymore_ pumpkin juice?" Lily asked sweetly, causing James to turn red and the room to erupt into laughter.

Lisa finally managed to quieten everyone down.

"Enough, we are supposed to be prefects," she cried.

"Sorry, Lisa," Lily mumbled awkwardly ("Yeah, you should be," whispered James).

"It doesn't matter now," Michael piped up, who had noticed Lily's discomfort.

"You have to admit it, that it was a pretty good source of entertainment on the night," said Eddie from Hufflepuff who was chuckling. There was a slight murmur of agreement, until Lisa cleared her throat threateningly. Needless to say this got everyone's attention.

"Well, now that we have got that out of our system, I would like to move on with some new rules to be instated due to the latest pranks being played amongst some houses." Once again she stopped to look at James, who this time had the grace to act ashamed.

"Surprise dormitory inspections will now be in place for every House, which will be carried out by all prefects." Michael grinned at James' sudden smile and continued on. " However, they _will_ be checked again by your Head of House, to ensure that prefects don't miss a thing and only the Head Girl and myself will know when these inspections will be."

James' grin disappeared as Lily had thought it would, and she smirked triumphantly. Finally Potter wouldn't be getting his own way. She only hoped that this would finally give him enough incentive to act his own age.

"Now onto other things …" said Lisa.

The meeting finished soon after that, so everyone could go to dinner, and Lily let out a sigh of relief. Since the meeting had finished on time for once, Lily would now have time to go to the prefects bathroom for a nice, relaxing bath before catching a later dinner with her friends.

After detouring to her dorm to pick up a change of clothes and some towels, she proceeded to walk to the bathroom, humming softly under her breath. After giving the password, she climbed in only to hear a sort of shuffling coming from the far end of the bath. Since there was steam covering the bathroom, she couldn't see what it was exactly, so she edged a bit closer, her wand at the ready.

Lily didn't expect to see any prefects there yet, it was only ten minutes after the meeting, and to her knowledge everybody else was going to dinner. Therefore she was horrified to find that not only was there a male prefect next to the bath, but it was James and he was already snogging passionately with some girl. Maybe more, but Lily wasn't willing to find out. Somehow she had managed to again interrupt Potter's sleazy dates, she found herself thinking automatically.

Backing away slowly, she accidentally slipped on a wet tile, causing her to shriek softly and drop her towels and clothes in the process. She desperately tried to make a hasty retreat before Potter saw her, but it was too late.

Potter had broken free from the girl's embrace, and instantly stormed over to her. He looked so furious that Lily couldn't help but let out a-

"Uh oh."

"You're right, _uh_ _oh_. What the hell do you think you are doing, barging in here like that?" demanded James, his glasses slightly foggy by the steam. In any other case Lily would have found that funny, but right now, as cornered as she felt, that was the last thing on her mind.

"What am I doing? I was coming to have a bath, not to witness you shagging some girl!" shouted Lily, her temper getting the better of her.

"What's it to you what I'm doing? And I wasn't shagging her anyway." He stopped to wipe his glasses, and Lily caught a glimpse of James' eyes, which at the moment were narrowed in anger, and something else … could it be embarrassment?

"Sure, and Merlin was just a muggle magician," muttered Lily. James flushed, and Lily noticed it.

He _was_ embarrassed. She had caught him in the act and he was ashamed about it! Oh, this was too good to be true. Before he could speak up again, she beat him to it.

"And seeing as you have broken _another_ rule with yet another girl, I have no choice but to take 20 points from Gryffindor," she broke off to look at the girl who was trying to sneak away from her, "-and 10 points from?"

The girl sighed.

"Ravenclaw," muttered the girl, reluctantly.

"Yes, and 10 points from Ravenclaw. I don't think I need to say what it's for, it's quite obvious," said Lily, who then nodded and dismissed the girl with a wave.

"And as for you, do you mind? I want to have a bath," said Lily, directing this comment to James who still hadn't responded to her. When he did, she was quite surprised by his ferocity.

"You can't take 20 points for this? You are just prejudiced of me. She only got 10 points for Merlin's sake!" he argued angrily, waving his arms around threateningly. Lily didn't care much for this and she was far from delighted at yet another immature outburst.

"Prejudiced? I doubt the teachers would have been so lenient as me. Perhaps I should ask them what I should have done?" Lily shot back.

James flinched, and Lily proceeded to retrieve her towels from where she had accidentally dropped them on the ground. Almost casually, she swung around again,

"Oh, and I took more off for you because you were abusing your rights as a prefect. This wasn't her bathroom, yet you must have given her the password to get in. _Tut_ _tut,_ Potter, don't you ever learn?" she added, shaking her head patronisingly.

James opened his mouth to argue, but Lily sighed.

"Just get out Potter," she said resignedly. James shrugged, obviously unperturbed by what she had said.

"No," he stated simply.

Lily tensed up, she wasn't expecting this.

"What do you mean no?" growled Lily.

"Just what I meant, I won't go. Not until you answer a question of my own."

At this, Lily frowned.

"What, then?" she asked warily.

"What is it you have against me? What started all this hostility between us?"

Lily's eyebrows shot up in amazement.

"You are kidding me right?" she said incredulously. James just looked at her blankly. "You mean to tell me that after all this time you don't even _know_?"

"Obviously I don't, that's why I'm asking you," he replied, not missing a beat.

"I'll give you one clue Potter, then maybe you can use that brain of yours for once to find out what it was." Lily stopped to draw in a breath and she said reluctantly, "First year, first prank. Now _GET_ out."

James let himself be pushed out of the door, which was almost slammed behind him.

"Stupid … no good prat." Lily mumbled darkly, filling up her bath with shaking hands. Why did he always make life so difficult?

* * *

**A/N:** Once again I'm sorry for not updating sooner and I hope that this chapter makes up for it. The actual incident is explained in detail in the next chapter, so make sure you all review so I'll post it sooner. He he.

Cheers to the following reviewers:

**Lily:** _I'm sorry I took so long to update. Don't worry, I will keep going._

**Lil ellenphant: **_Thank you! I hope you keep reading!_

**Regulus Black**: _I'm glad you like both of my stories so far. I hope you keep on reading both, and I was very honoured when you put me on your favourite authors list! Thanks!_

**Carmenel: **_Don't worry I will continue. Thanks for reviewing._

**High?D: **_Thanks, I'm sorry it took so long for me to update._

**Anarane Anwamane: **_Thanks again for reviewing!_

Stringbean: _Thank you! I can tell you right now that the banter between Lily and James is always the most fun to write as well._

**Kiwi: **_Sorry it wont be happening just yet. I've got to get them to stop hating each other first, and let me tell you now, its not an easy task!_

**Drops-of-winter:** _Lol, I don't mind at all if your stubborn. It's an ailment of mine too. And don't worry Snape is not a major fixture in this story, so you can breathe easier!_

Tay: _Lily can be pretty uptight sometimes, but James always manages to bring out the worst in her. I'm glad you've noticed his behaviour towards her, even though he may not be aware of it himself. Typical male, lol. Anyway, I don't mind your rambling either. I like it when people ask me questions. As for the hex Lily cast on Josh, you'll find more about it in this chapter._

**Write-on3108:** _Thank you, but wheres my cyber jelly beans? He he, only kidding._

The Stek: _You might have good reason to worry, but the prank won't be for a while longer. I'm still trying to plan this prank. I'm trying to make it different from any other fanfic I've read … which is hard._ Laur: he he, thanks for reviewing. Heres the next chapter for ya!

**Chookstar: **_lol, the idea about Dumbledore kinda popped into my head and I thought … that's exactly what I'd expect him to do. I'm still lingering on some ideas on how they will finally get together. Yours is a possibility, but I wont say anything else yet, cos that would be telling. ;)_

**Coolcat Jenny: **_Yeah, don't worry I wont be making them any closer. Before oopt came out I was thinking of getting them to be good friends, but then now I'm planning on following the book more.._

**rysta cat: **_Thank you! As soon as I get some more free time I'll try and read some of your fics! I would have done so last week if it wasn't for stupid being down. Oh and I wont make Snape fall in love with Lily. It will never go further than a friendship, because I truly didn't believe that it would have really happened._

**BlueEyedWildmage: **_lol, 'O all seeing one'. I like that, feel free to bow down to me as well. He he, sorry, I'm sure your thinking that I'm pretty weird, but of course after reading my fic so far I'm sure you think that already! I'm relieved that you thought the hexing was enough as well. You'll find the after effects of the curse this chapter. After reading your review I realised if there were wands involved, it would have definitely got nasty! Good thing the pumpkin juice was within arms reach then, hey?_

**Lily: **_Thank you!_

**KelseyPotterBlack: **_Yeah, I'm sorry I haven't had it up sooner. I hope that this chapter is worth the wait though._

**DRUIDGIRL:** _lol, I never thought my story would end up being so humorous, and after you pointed it out to me, I realised you were right, so I changed it. lol … and no that wasn't the plan, there is one that will involve your least favourite character. Oh and unless im mistaken, 'furnunculus' has been mentioned in the harry potter books, but you'll find out the after effects of the hex in this chapter anyway._

**Ivy Crane: **_I never said she wouldn't get punished, lol. It's just in her current state … he he, just read this chapter and you'll find out._

**Lily: **_hmm, they might … or might not. The minds of these two teachers eludes even me, the author. Nah not really, he he. And this prank could prove to be disastrous as well._

**Parselmouth Majere: **_lol thanks again for reviewing._

**tv-fan-06: **_Sorry it took so long to continue. Next time I'll be sooner._

**Snuffles: **_Wow, you took attention of my little details! Lol, I'm just really pleased that people notice them, cos when I write them, they sometimes seem under- shadowed (is that a word) by all the other major issues, if you can understand me. Sorry if I did rush it a bit, but I'm pretty hopeless at describing the preparations for the ball. I tried writing it, but it seemed so … I dunno, it didn't really fit well. _

**Goodcharlotte: **_lol, you'll find out this chapter. Thanks for reviewing!_

**Zane Lupin:** _I definitely don't mind these long reviews. By all means keep on going! I think I can reveal that yes I am going to try and follow ootp as much as possible (apart from Remus being a prefect and Arabella being in the story), meaning I will be putting that scene into my story. The book did affect my story quite a bit though, as I had planned out future chapters and even written out some … also when L and J got together would have been sooner for me with my fic, but now I'll change everything to suit the book more. I'm thinking that I might make their sixth year a lot shorter than I was going to as well, so that I can hurry up and get to their seventh year. I hope I answered your question properly this time and I look forward to your next review (no pressure … really)._

**Angelisa Snape: **_No worries, I'd say reviewing two chapters was good enough for me! _


	13. Missing Pieces

**Title : **Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. – The only characters belonging to me are Sionell Prewitt, and any other pitiful original characters I have yet to write.

**Foreword: **With the threat of being sued, cough*drops-of-winter*cough … and the inevitable fact that my holidays are almost up, (before I go back to uni, unfortunately) here is the next chapter.

I'm really sorry everyone, but I've decided not to put the prank in this chapter. I know, I know, I'm being evil but I realised that I had to put Remus' full moon first, so it will be next chapter …

…Nah only joking, here it is.

* * *

**Diametrically Opposed**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Thirteen**

_Missing Pieces_

..

"I've told you once already, don't make me say it again … please keep your perverted hands to yourself!" James exclaimed angrily. He slapped Peter's hand away from a particularly private place.

"You'd think that without Moony we'd be able to fit comfortably under this cloak," observed Sirius who was beside him and laughing silently as he watched Peter's arms stiffen to his sides.

It was the night of the full moon, the first full moon that the three of the Marauders would be using their Animagi forms to meet up with the fourth Marauder in the Shrieking Shack. As usual, they were using the Invisibility cloak as a means to hide from all the prying eyes in the school, especially Snivellus who had been eyeing them suspiciously at dinner that night.

"Maybe some of us have _gained_ weight recently," murmured James, shuffling towards the Entrance Door.

"Maybe someone's head has grown recently," Peter retorted indignantly.

Sirius shoved a fist in his mouth to stifle his laughter, but James expression remained sour.

"Oh lighten up, Prongs," Sirius sighed. "What's got you in such a foul mood anyway? I thought that snogging session with Roxanne the other night would have made you happy, but you've been down in the dumps ever since."

Sirius was only touching lightly on James' mood the past two days. Ever since his run-in with Evans in the prefect bathroom, he had been downright sullen. He had pretty much kept to himself, choosing only to respond when directly being involved in a conversation.

Truth be told, the little confrontation with Evans had affected him … in a major way. Firstly, because she had caught him with another girl. For some reason, he couldn't help flushing with embarrassment at the very thought of her standing in front of him, with those eyes of hers staring over his shoulder at the girl hidden behind him.

Of course the other most obvious reason was the last parting words Evans had thrown at him … _first year, first prank_ … the incident behind all their animosity … something that had kept them from being friends all these years.

Try as he might, he couldn't for the life of him remember what exactly that prank was. Too many years had passed with dozens of pranks being pulled on people … it was just too hard for him to remember that far back. This in particular had narked him for the past few days, and it had constantly been in his thoughts, nagging him to solve it … to remember it.

"It was just something Evans said to me," James grumbled eventually, his thoughts still on remembering his past pranks … a prank involving a large water balloon suddenly swept into his mind, but he discarded it in annoyance. That prank had been pulled on Snivellus a few years ago.

"It can't have been an incantation for a hex or anything, because you're still standing," Peter replied, skimming his eyes over James body, looking for any abnormalities. "Unless she did something where our eyes can't reach?"

"No, it was nothing like that," he replied slowly, creasing his forehead in frustration. "She admitted that she hates me because of a prank I pulled on her in our first year."

"_First _prank, first year?" Sirius queried.

James started, causing him to almost fall down the stairs that they were walking down.

"Yeah … how did you know?" he demanded.

"Oh come on, Prongs. How dense are you? _We_ did the first prank together. First person to see, remember?"

_First person to see… first prank … legendary …_

Words echoed throughout his memories, vague recollections. But all of a sudden the mental block came crashing down with a bone-crunching jolt.

He knew.

..

_**Flashback**_

"… First person we see, gets the first prank, remember?" a first year Sirius said. After the train had set off, leaving their families behind, James and Sirius had been quick to establish themselves into a compartment for the long trip to Hogwarts, and were reclining comfortably on the leather seats.

At James' look of confusion, Sirius cast a glance back at the redheaded girl walking past their compartment. They'd first seen her standing outside the platform, clutching her luggage as she farewelled her parents.

James nodded, thoughtfully running his hand through his untameable hair. "Right … so then it's that red-headed girl," he replied.

Sirius couldn't help but laugh in excitement as he envisioned their first prank.

"So when do you reckon we will get the opportunity to carry it out? What if she doesn't get into the same house as us?"

James scratched his head. The thought hadn't occurred to him before.

"If she doesn't, we'll find someone else," he finally decided. "But if she is, then how about we just do it at the sorting feast? All we have to do is distract her away from her wand for a while."

Sirius grinned. "Agreed."

Luckily for them, the redheaded girl who they found was named Lily Evans did end up sorted into Gryffindor.

James leaned over next to Lily during the feast, and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey … Lily is it?"

Lily nodded timidly. To James, she seemed awfully shy, and hadn't yet engaged in conversation with anybody else.

"You mind if I uh take a look at your wand for a minute?" he asked.

Almost immediately, Lily's face lit up, and for a moment James felt a pang of guilt for pranking her as she handed him her wand. He pushed down the uneasiness, focusing his attention back on what he was about to do. Pretending to examine it, James twirled it round in his hand as Lily watched on, rapt with interest.

That was Sirius' signal to gain Lily's attention. He didn't disappoint, poking her none to gently in her side to show her some outrageous ways to prank the Slytherins', but of course leaving out the one prank they were in the midst of playing on her.

Whilst she was distracted, James softly said an incantation to change the colour of his old fake wand into an exact replica of Lily's. He quickly swapped her wand for his old fake wand and placed her wand neatly into his pocket. After Sirius had finished talking and James had returned Lily's 'new' wand back to her, Sirius looked questionably at James, the latter giving a triumphant smirk.

The plan had started…

_**End Flashback**_

..

"The fake wand prank?" James exclaimed in disbelief as they walked down to the weeping willow.

Sirius nodded inattentively, his eyes focused on the advancing weeping willow.

"But that's ridiculous! That was like the most pathetic prank we've ever pulled," James continued on.

"I know that," Sirius replied in exasperation. They came to a halt just out of reach of the bruising branches, "but can we just focus on getting into the willow for a second?"

James nodded shamefully, though his thoughts were still mulling over the prank. In an attempt to rid himself of them, he remembered the plan and turned to Peter.

"Can you transform alright now?" he asked. The plan to enter the willow was for Peter to transform into his rat form, and then prod the knot Remus had mentioned, so that Sirius and James could then get through. In turn the other two would quickly transform into their own forms inside the passageway, then drag the invisibility cloak into the passage with them.

"Yeah, just give me a few moments," Peter replied, his voice trembling slightly.

A few minutes later Peter was in full Animagus form, and he scuttled away to the willow. Their plan was carried out successfully, and soon enough a stag, a dog and a rat made their way down the rest of the passage to the Shrieking Shack.

Without opposable thumbs, it took a while to finagle their way through the door. Eventually, Sirius managed to go up on two legs and open it with his paw. As the door slowly swung open, they laid their eyes on their close friend, who had already started his own transformation.

It was the first time the other three boys had witnessed Moony's transformation, and they couldn't help but wince in sympathy. The process looked extremely painful, and the heart-wrenching howls emitting from Moony's mouth weren't exactly disputing that. James shook his antlers at Sirius who whined in return. Neither needed words to express the helplessness they felt watching their friend go through something so traumatic.

For the next few hours James was too occupied on Remus to think of anything other than his friends. It wasn't easy introducing themselves to a werewolf. As a born predator, Remus had automatically grown defensive of these new animals invading his territory. He snarled, growled and struck out at the Animagi many times, but mainly Sirius and James as they were the most threatening.

At first it had even seemed as though their idea on keeping Remus company wouldn't work, and they all grew disheartened. However they finally managed to gain his trust, some resemblance of his human self shining through enough to recognise them, James liked to think, and they spent the next glorious three or four hours romping around the shrieking shack. At this stage, James could afford to relax and he hung back from the other three. He pawed restlessly at the ground as he returned his thoughts back to the prank.

James recalled how he and Sirius had pulled Lily aside in the common room later that night. They'd urged her to try some spells with her wand, suggesting a few for her to try then watching as she failed miserably. By that stage, James was too into the prank to care about how bad Lily must have been feeling. Instead he had prided himself on sounding as convincing as possible until they would tell her at breakfast the next morning.

Unfortunately by the end of breakfast that next morning, Lily hadn't appeared at all. They even waited around by the Great Hall for a while longer, hoping to return her wand back to her before their first class started.

He could clearly remember some of the events that followed.

..

_**Flashback**_

James and Sirius ran in late to Transfiguration, their robes dishevelled from the long trek from the Great Hall, and James' glasses practically hanging off his nose.

"Sorry we're late Professor," wheezed Sirius, clutching his side as he tried to regain his breath.

"Hmm," was all Professor McGonagall would reply in return. She stared them down for a moment before perusing the list she had levitated in front of her.

They took this as a sign to sit down and shut up, although James couldn't help but search the class for the Gryffindor girl. He nudged Sirius who was unbelievably already starting to doze off.

"Sirius," he whispered, "That Lily girl isn't here either … do you think she may not have figured out our prank by now?"

Sirius grunted sleepily. "Naw, she must have, it was so obvious."

"Yeah I guess," James reluctantly replied.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat to gain the class's attention.

"Where is Lily Evans?" she asked pointedly, fixing her impenetrable gaze on the other two Gryffindor girls.

The closest one gulped nervously. "She was in the bathroom, Professor," she answered, quickly. The other girl nodded her agreement.

"She refused to come out. It sounded like she was upset about something."

James refused to flinch at that. He really did.

Professor McGonagall frowned, but not before her face had softened slightly.

"Arabella Figg, and - Sionell Prewitt is it?" The two girls nodded as one. "Please go and see Miss Evans and find out what is wrong?" She didn't so much as ask as she did request. With a nervous look shared between the two girls, they quickly set off for the Gryffindor common room.

James swallowed nervously as they left, a lump of guilt had not only formed in his throat; it was starting to choke him. He decided that he would return her wand back straight after transfiguration, no matter what.

Nudging Sirius again, he informed him of his plan and Sirius nodded.

After class, they both walked straight back to the common room, forgoing their next class to track down the missing witch. As they stepped through the near deserted room, the sound of low voices by the fireplace penetrated the silence. James managed to just hear the last sentence.

"-the wrath of Arabella Figg and-"

_**End Flashback**_

..

James wasn't exactly sure what happened after that point. Over the years, he and Evans had exchanged unpleasant words many times, so it all seemed a jumble of those memories. He vaguely remembered saying some not so nice things to her, but that she'd been quick to return the gesture. He supposed now that the prank mustn't have been particularly easy for Evans, considering how uptight she was about certain things … but really, it wasn't enough for her to treat him like rubbish for the next five years. One had to learn to move past old discretions sometimes, and toughen up a bit.

And that's exactly what she had to do, he decided. As soon as he could get her alone again, he was going to confront her and settle this matter between them once and for all. Then she could no longer hold any silly grudges and he could get on with his life without Lily Evans constantly on his mind.

With a triumphant bellow at the promise of reconciliation and the fact that he could actually remember the prank after all, James lifted his front hooves to rear up into the air then playfully went to join his three roaming friends.

* * *

James wasn't the only one who had been constantly distracted by that prank. The very same night that James was at the Shrieking Shack, Lily was sitting in the common room, trying desperately to concentrate on the opened book (_The progression of wands, its uses and properties_) in front of her. Unfortunately, she had spent the last ten minutes reading the same line over and over again:

… _A wand is essential to a witch or wizard. Without one, magic is uncontrolled and unfocused…_

_Or non-existent_, Lily thought bitterly, shifting her eyes to the fire. The ever familiar pit of anger churning away inside her was the usual feeling she associated with Potter, but the other night's events had done nothing to extinguish that feeling. She was suddenly regretting mentioning the prank to Potter. Even though it had only been on a whim, how stupid was she to think for even a second that Potter would remember it? It wasn't as though it was an important or life-changing event to him … just another seemingly harmless prank.

She sighed, forcing back the unpleasant memory that sprang to mind. Since she had told Potter, she couldn't seem to stop replaying that horrible moment five years before. It had constantly been at the edge of her thoughts, bringing up emotions that she had tried to repress for five years … shame, despair, helplessness.

A loud crackle of the fire interrupted her thoughts and she returned back to reading her book.

… _since the studies conducted by Merlin, the wand has been evolved to contain many cores, ranging from the rare phoenix feather to the willow …_

Again Lily stopped as she was reminded of her own wand. Scowling, she figured it was useless to try reading her book, slamming it shut and throwing it down beside her on the couch. It was clear that there was only one thing that could occupy her mind that night, and it wasn't an essay on wands…

..

_**Flashback**_

It was during the feast that James asked to take a look at Lily's wand. Along with Sirius, James was the first person that she had seen at King's Cross station; her waiting anxiously for some platform to appear between Platforms 9 and 10 whilst her parents looked on, and the two boys sprinting away from their own respective families to come to a screeching halt in front of her. The two had grinned at her in unison before rushing headlong into the solid platform, causing her to screech in alarm. They'd reappeared briefly to help her through which had been pleasant, and treated her as though she truly belonged in this entirely new and exciting world.

She wished that she had spent the train journey in their compartment, instead of the soon-to-be Slytherin students she had unfortunately sat with. The disdain that had leeched through each word they spoke to her had been just as painful as the silence that arose whenever she mentioned her family. One had even gone so far as to insult the purity of her blood, as if it were the most important thing in the world. Lily had even begun to doubt herself at that point, wondering if it hadn't been some sort of colossal mistake for her being there.

The Sorting Hat hadn't been much reassuring either, sprouting some nonsense about purity being of the heart and love having the ability to conquer even the strongest of magic …

But it was mostly because of those Slytherins' that she had been unusually silent throughout the sorting feast. So when James had turned to her, Lily had felt a touch of pride, and seeing no harm in it, she obligingly handed her wand over to James. After a couple of seconds where James was closely inspecting it, she felt a tap on her shoulder and she swung around to find Sirius suddenly engaging her in conversation.

After the Sorting feast, everyone was directed towards their common rooms, including Lily, James and Sirius. The boys were acting extremely odd towards Lily and there was a nagging suspicion that the two of them were up to something that involved her.

It wasn't until Lily was about to depart for the girl's dormitory that James and Sirius called her back to talk to her.

"Can you perform any spells?" Sirius asked unexpectedly, motioning for her to sit down.

"No," she replied, feeling her cheeks redden as she admitted it, "I haven't tried yet,"

James aimed a lopsided grin in her direction. "Well, try now. You've read the charm to light your wand haven't you?" Lily nodded, and James continued on. "Well just try it. Here, I'll go first this time if you don't believe me."

Whipping out his wand from his pocket, he casually held it up in the air and said "Lumos."

A light instantly appeared from the end of his wand. Lily looked on, spellbound. James motioned for Lily to try it.

Lily eyed the two boys before sighing heavily and sitting down on one of the couches. She nervously cleared her throat and pronounced clearly "Lumos".

Lily waited for something to happen, but it never did. Sirius smiled sympathetically, but Lily hardly noticed.

"It's alright … can't always get it on the first try. It's not as if they made a mistake with you or anything right?" joked Sirius. Lily hung her head and flushed in embarrassment.

"Let's try another one."

"Which one now?" she replied wearily.

"Colour Charm, _Colorus_," James answered promptly. "Aim at the table."

"Okay … _colorus_." Nothing happened, "_Colorus_ … _Colorus_ … _COLORUS_! Oh I give up!" she shrieked in exasperation, dropping the wand onto the couch next to her.

The two boys shared an apprehensive look. "Lily, we don't know how to say this to you, but we don't think that you should be here," James said urgently. "I mean if the Professors found out tomorrow that you couldn't even do a simple spell like 'lumos', you'll be sent home straight away."

Lily gasped, her hand automatically reaching for her wand.

"No … but … I can't," she cried. Sirius sympathetically put an arm around her.

"It's alright, we won't tell anyone … just stay low, and maybe you can fake it through."

A sob, muffled only by one shaking hand, escaped from her lips, and she broke Sirius's contact to run up to her dorm; her wand clutched tightly in the other hand. Her other dorm mates were already in bed when she walked through the door, so she wasted no time in jumping into the remaining bed, and pulling the curtains closed.

She stared at her wand for a very long moment. It had seemed so wonderful when it had chosen her, but now the thin stick represented nothing more than the failure of the world she longed to be a part of.

The rest of the night was spent desperately trying every spell in the Standard Book of Spells. But each time it resulted in the same way.

Absolutely nothing.

By dawn the next morning, Lily was in hysterics. She still hadn't been able to perform even one spell. When it came time for everyone to go to breakfast and then lessons, Lily locked herself up in the bathroom, ignoring the protests from her roommates.

With a heavy heart, Lily fell to the floor crying helplessly.

She was nothing …

All Lily could remember next was Arabella and Sionell coming for her during one of the lessons.

"Lily?" the dark haired girl ventured gently; her voice partly muffled as she was talking through the bathroom door. Lily muffled a sob.

"Please go away," Lily whimpered pathetically, shaking uncontrollably. There was a sound of another voice whispering something, and then the door opened to reveal her roommates, one pocketing a wand.

Lily let out a fresh batch of tears at this. She attempted to bury her head in her knees.

"Don't make me go back please … I'll work hard," she pleaded.

Arabella and Sionell looked at each other in confusion.

"Lily, we aren't going to make you leave," the other girl reassured. "Please tell us what's wrong."

Lily stopped abruptly, and looked up, knowing how red and puffy her eyes would be. She had to take a deep, calming breath before finally replying.

"I can't do magic with my wand … I tried so hard but nothing … all night … nothing." She dissolved into sobs again, and Arabella put a comforting arm around Lily's shoulders before noticing the wand resting in Lily's lap.

Her eyes narrowed.

"That isn't your wand is it?" she asked. Lily nodded.

Arabella let out a snort of laughter, and Lily bit her lip. She wasn't expecting a reaction like that.

"Well that explains everything," Arabella breathed, picking up the wand. "This is a fake wand. No doubt you were the victim of a heartless prank."

Lily's eyes widened and she almost bowled over Arabella as she stood up.

"You mean that isn't my wand?" she asked, her voice wavering on the line of excitement and hope.

"Yes," said Bella simply. Lily let out a cry of relief and hugged Bella gratefully, who exclaimed, "_Merlin_! Come outside into the common room. There's nobody there, and you're freezing!"

Feeling drained from the effects of her sleepless and emotional night, she allowed herself to be led downstairs. When they were comfortably seated in front of the fire, Lily spoke up again. "So, I am a witch then?" she added meekly.

"Of course you are!" Sionell exclaimed. "Whoever said that you weren't?"

"James and Sirius."

"You listened to those prats! They are probably the ones behind this stupid prank …"

"I didn't know, no one else in my family are witches or wizards …" Lily trailed off, blushing.

A scowl crossed Arabella's face. "Those stupid prats. They are going to experience the wrath of Arabella Figg and-"

"Who are?" A voice came from the entrance to their Common Room.

The three girls turned their attention behind them, Arabella jumping up in surprise. There standing before them, were the two boys previously mentioned, unaware of the trouble they had now strolled across.

Hi girls." Sirius flashed an impetuous smile. "_Lily_."

Arabella growled, advancing menacingly. "You have some nerve coming here now."

Sirius appeared taken aback, his smile slowly disappearing.

"What do you mean?" He frowned. "We just wanted to give Lily's wand back to her. Seems she mistook it for one of our fake wands." He waved it around in front of Arabella's face, who instantly snatched it away from him.

He finished with a laugh that was contagious, and James soon joined in.

Lily couldn't hold her disgust any longer and she stormed over to the boys, muttering a quick thanks as Arabella handed her back her wand.

"You didn't sleep well," James noted carelessly.

"Through no fault of mine I can tell you," she spat angrily. "Thanks to your stupid prank I-"

James held up a hand to interrupt. "Wait a minute. You can't mean to tell us that this is all because of the little prank we pulled on you, can you?"

"Little prank? LITTLE!" she shrieked. Arabella placed a hand on Lily's shoulder to calm her down, then faced the boys.

"She's Muggleborn. She had no idea what a _fake_ wand looked like."

For a moment James and Sirius looked slightly apologetic, cringing in each other's directions. But then it disappeared.

"Sorry," offered James, though his smile was still planted on his face.

"Not good enough," Lily retorted. "You don't deserve to be here if you find things like this funny."

James clenched his jaw and Lily saw his eyes narrow. "Maybe we didn't think somebody would make such a big deal about it," he spat back. "Should have known a _girl_ would have been so emotional about it. Maybe you aren't good enough to be here if you can't even handle a joke! Maybe _you_ are the one that doesn't deserve to be here."

Lily blinked furiously to stop the tears from falling again. How could they be so cruel?

"Get out now," she hissed.

James smirked. "Gladly."

The two swished their robes around to make their dramatic exit, and left the three girls alone again to build the foundations of the long standing hatred between the Gryffindors that would hold strong five years down the track.

_**End Flashback**_

..

Ever since that incident, Lily held no affection whatsoever for James Harold Potter. He was not worth the pedestal he was cast upon, and she was definitely never going to give him the satisfaction of breaking down again like that. True, Sirius had been in on the prank too, but he hadn't said the hurtful things that Potter had, and he'd never gone out of his way to annoy. In her mind, Potter was and always would be the main offender.

That was the reason she couldn't allow herself to become friends with him.

That was the reason she could barely stand to be in his presence… Every time she saw him, she remembered the incident … and remembered how helpless and ashamed she had felt.

Lily sighed, and reluctantly returned to her book. It wouldn't do to daydream in the common room about it, especially with the Marauders and_ Potter_ due to come traipsing back in any moment now. After dinner they had all disappeared, except for Remus who hadn't been present all day. Off for yet another reoccurrence of his strange illness, she noted with a frown.

"He's not worth the effort," she mumbled grumpily, curling up to a more comfortable position on the couch.

"Who isn't?" Arabella snuck up behind her, startling Lily.

After the pounding of her heart subsided from her ears, Lily explained causally, "Oh you know, the usual."

"Potter." It was more a statement than anything else, so all Lily could do was nod.

Arabella's features darkened. "You shouldn't let him get to you."

"I know … but-"

"-But nothing. You should know by now that everything he says is absolute crap!" yelled Arabella, her voice steadily rising and causing some students to gain her attention.

Lily motioned for Arabella to lower her voice before answering. "It's not that now … the other night we bumped into each other in the Prefects bathroom-" Arabella went to open her mouth disapprovingly, but Lily rushed on.

"Not that type of bumping Bella … anyway, I told him to leave and of course he wouldn't-"

"Hrrphm … would have kicked him aside," Bella snorted. Lily frowned.

"Bella," she chided.

"Sorry, sorry. _Please_, continue on."

Lily threw Bella a dirty look. "He _said_ that he wouldn't leave until I answered a question of his-"

"What kind of question?"

"Bella!"

"Sorry!"

"He _asked_ me why I hated him so much," Lily finished miserably. Arabella let out another snort.

"Surely, he knows?" she asked incredulously. Lily shook her head.

"No, that's what I asked him. Apparently he doesn't remember a thing … and I wasn't about to tell him so I gave him a hint … a stupid hint … first prank ever," she replied, again cringing slightly at the memory.

"He bloody well should remember what happened," Bella exploded. "Maybe I could bash it into his skull, or-"

"No Bella, please don't. If he doesn't remember that is his problem, but I honestly don't want anymore to do with him, if I can help it," Lily disagreed, snapping her book shut. "I'd rather we talk about something else, ok?"

Bella reluctantly closed her mouth, and leaned over to pull Lily's book from her grasp.

"Fine, on one condition," replied Bella. At Lily's raised eyebrow, she added cheekily, "We don't talk about anything to do with school."

"Ok," Lily agreed, and reached for the book.

Arabella let out a chuckle, before banishing the book (with her wand) to the other side of the room. She narrowly missed hitting a few third years who sent her contemptuous glares in return. She shrugged before shifting her attention back to Lily.

"Just in case." protested Bella.

* * *

**A/N:** Ha ha I really couldn't help myself, but I just couldn't resist. I wish I could have seen your faces at the beginning, but before you kill me I only did it because there's been all this expectation on this prank, and I thought that if I said that at the beginning, you would have just been happy that I actually did put it in.

Lol, anyway tell me what you think. I know that the prank seemed pretty lame, but to Lily it was really offensive and it played on her doubts about being a witch. If you want to know more, feel free to ask me, and I'll try and answer you in my next chapter.

Next chapter will clear up things even more, and include detentions and confrontations, by the way, he he.

As usual thanks to the following reviewers:

**Zane Lupin: **_lol, you are a very good observer. Originally that comment on Remus's wand was meant to follow the bit in the previous chapter where he and Sirius are behind James, backing him up against Snape… Of course being the doofus I am, I forgot to actually say that James AND Remus and Sirius had all pulled out their wands, and not just James. I'm sorry if I confused you! As usual, I was really pleased that you liked those parts of the chapter. Somehow you manage to think the same way I do on parts of the story, like how James' friends always brought him back down to earth. He he, and I like your little chant. Oh and I decided not to be evil after all … tempted but I resisted it. I had already written bits and pieces of this chapter before I started this story, so I've worked really hard on it to get it all polished up and everything really soon so now you'll finally find out the prank. By the way Simpsons is good ;)_

**Drops-of-winter: **_Me evil? Never, otherwise I would have waited another week or two to update. But please don't sue me … I have no money! Lol, and I like the nice things you said ;) _

**Write-on3108: **_Thank you for the beans! Heres the prank for you. Tell me what you think pleeeease._

**Luthien Vardamir: **_Thanks, here it is._

**NiNa PoP: **_Thank you for reviewing, I'm really flattered you think its one of the best! I hope you keep on reviewing._

**Faye: **_lol, wait to get me to update sooner! I cant piss off the readers, otherwise no one would review my story._

**HpbookFan4life: **_Thanks for reviewing, though I never knew I used those words so much … lol. I'm not English so I usually never say these things in real life. Git is definitely not in my vocabulary in Australia! And I think its really cool that your parents had the same kind of love/hate relationship. _

**tv-fan-06: **_Thanks again, I hope you like this chapter too._

**Lily: **_Ahhh thank you so much for loving my story so much, and here is the prank for you._

**Tay: **_Thank you, I'm glad you like it._

**Chookstar: **_ok I promise I'll try not to rush things. Thanks for reviewing again, and I really appreciate your imput._

**Snuffles:**_ Spoiling you? I think your spoiling me! I love reviews, and your reviews are always so great … so if you think that I'm spoiling you, just review another chapter for me and I'll call it even! Thanks for reviewing to my other story as well. Usually those kind of stories aren't for me either, but it kind of just came to me and I thought I'd write it just to see what people thought._

**lil ellenphant: **_Is this soon enough? I hope so! Thanks for reviewing again._

**Parselmouth Majere: **_Deadly prank hey? You think I will be really cruel to Lily and her friends? Never? Lol. Well the prank that the marauders will eventually pull could prove disastrous, but that wont be happening for a while. The prank in first year, well you'll just have to read this chapter._

**BlueEyedWildmage: **_lol, thanks again for reviewing. And if you think you're the same as me, then I'm absolutely sure that we're sane. I hope._

**GoodCharlotte: **_Don't worry I haven't forgotten. This is definitely a prank they would have pulled … it might seem a bit lame but trust me its important._

**high?D: **_Thanks, I got this chapter out as soon as I could._

**Lily-Pad: **_Thanks, I hope this chapter is worth the wait._

**kiwi: **_Yeah I decided to put Peter into it as much as possible even though I hate the little rat. Thanks for reviewing again._

**Coolcatjenny: **_I hope you haven't been staring at the computer for too long, lol. Thanks for reviewing and feel free to review again … and again … and again. _


	14. The truth revealed

**Title:** Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Spoilers: **Written before Ootp, HBP & DH but contains some spoilers.

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Forewords:** Ummm, not much to say other than I finally updated BOTH stories. Yippeee, it took me ages. I now know the complications of writing two stories at the same time.

**

* * *

**

**Diametrically Opposed**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen**

_The Truth Revealed_

_.._

"_POTTER_! Ten points from Gryffindor."

"I didn't do anything!" the offending boy protested.

Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes at James. "No?" she queried. "Then it wasn't your hand I saw passing notes to Mr Black?"

"It was only one note, Professor," James admitted, attempting an apologetic smile as he weakly added, "and it was for transfiguration."

Amused giggles broke out in the class at the absurdity of that statement. Transfiguration was well known to be James' easiest subject, so he often spent time on … other activities during class.

"Are you that willing for yet _another_ detention Potter?" asked Professor McGonagal, a raised eyebrow indicating that she was also aware of James' inattentiveness in class.

"Not particularly." James conceded finally.

"Well then, return back to your _school_work Mr Potter before I do. You and Mr Black seem to be making a record of detentions as of late and I will not hesitate to add to that."

James slunk in his seat, throwing a dirty look at Sirius, who was smirking in return. Sure Sirius would laugh; it was his note that was being passed around. It was only rotten luck that it had been James who was caught with it.

He didn't mind that much though … passing notes always killed time in classes … not to mention losing points and getting detentions were like second nature to him now. McGonagall was right. They were making a record of the number of detentions they had acquired over the past five years.

Two minutes later, another note was thrown onto his table. Remus, who was on the other side of James, sent James a side-ways 'are-you-crazy-you-just-got-into-trouble-over-that' look.

Ignoring Remus, James grinned recklessly and opened the folded note.

_Sorry mate. I'll gain the points back for ya._

James snuck a look at Sirius who was attempting to help Peter with his work. He smirked before writing back.

_Is that all you wanted to say to me? I can get back the points by myself you know, probably quicker than Rattail learns that spell.._

He passed it on quickly when McGonagall turned her back on the class to face the chalkboard. Remus tutted loudly, gaining the attention of Bella who had been staring into space. James saw her watching as Sirius replied again.

_Nah, I just wanted to say at least she didn't read the note._

James bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. Sirius was right. Some of the comments they had been making to each other would not have rested well with their transfiguration professor.

_I reckon, _James wrote. _The old bat doesn't seem to be in a good mood today, and if she saw that note, I would have been hippogriff dung. I wonder what's up with her today. Maybe she got turned down for th- _

"I'll take that."

_Oh crap._ He had been so focused on writing back that he hadn't noticed when Professor McGonagall had stopped at his table until it was too late. She snatched up the note and skimmed over the contents of it quickly, her cheeks reddening slightly.

"I very much doubt that the old bat you speak of would appreciate being talked about like that," she said evenly, her stare now fixed on James. Out of the corner of his eye, James could see Remus on one side shaking his head, and Sirius on the other, who was hiding his face in his hands.

James sighed as Professor McGonagall handed him back the note.

"Detention?" he guessed.

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Detention," she confirmed grimly.

* * *

It was the next night that Lily was walking briskly to Filch's office for her detention. She had already served her week-long (Lisa had deliberately made it longer than usual) detention for the pumpkin incident two weeks before. Thankfully, none of that time had been spent with Potter, which she had to be grateful about, however grudgingly.

Unfortunately, the matter of Josh's hexing had ensured that she would have to go to yet another detention; hence tonight was the last night.

Lily shuddered as she approached his office door, wondering what on earth Filch was going to assign her tonight. Her last _week-long _detention had involved many, many knights' having their armour polished by hand. Half the time was spent arguing with the knights who were accusing her of missing spots all the time.

"You c_an't have a knight going out into battle with all those dull spots on my shield,"_ Lily mimicked grumpily. _"How are we supposed to rescue the damsels looking like we fell in mud?"_

Her arms were still aching, and her hands had yet to lose their unnatural shine. Bella and Sionell had been cracking up about that for days. No sympathy … just pure mirth. Bella had even claimed that she had seen her reflection one morning, but then again Lily had just gave her the finger.

Taking a deep breath, Lily realised that she was wasting time. She raised a hand to knock on the door-

-Only to have an unseen force come crashing from behind her, squishing her into the door with a loud BANG!

Before Lily could open her mouth to scream out in indignation, Filch opened the door and sneered out at her.

"When I say knock at the door, I don't mean knocking it OFF ITS HINGES!" he yelled angrily, closely inspecting his door as though it was broken.

"I-" Lily began apologetically but was interrupted by a very familiar … and most unwelcome voice … Potter of course.

"So sorry …" he said smoothly. "Not much we could do about it though. Peeves threw us into the door."

_Oh no_, Lily thought with dread. He's got a detention too … from that note-passing incident yesterday morning. How fitting that she had forgotten until that moment.

"Peeves you say?" Filch inquired eagerly, an unpleasant smile crossing his face.

James waved his arm casually down a hallway. "Yeah he went that way, holding some dungbombs and cackling about the tapestries on the fourth floor."

Filch's eyebrows shot up, and he eyed the hallway with a look of pure glee.

"Well then, I'll show him … I will." He went to leave but stopped suddenly as though realising that Lily and James were still there. "You two can go to the trophy room, and clean up all the glass cases … the _muggle_ way."

Lily groaned out loud, even as she fought to hide her amusement of the hapless Filch being manipulated by Potter. At least Filch wouldn't be breathing down her back the entire detention … he'd be too busy aimlessly walking around for Peeves who, for once in his existence, was in all likelihood completely innocent.

A chuckle sounded from beside her.

"I always knew you had a sense of humour somewhere inside that rough prefect exterior of yours," James noted smirking, after Filch had rounded the corner.

"Oh, I guarantee you that there are plenty of things I find humorous," Lily countered, her lips curving upwards into a small smile. "Haven't you ever noticed the times I've laughed at your little foolish escapades? Especially the ones where you end up making a fool of yourself."

"I've always told myself that you were laughing _with_ me," James said, grinning. "Everybody else does."

Lily shrugged casually. "If that's what your deluded little mind is telling you, than who am I to argue?" she said, then deliberately turned her body away from him as a blunt indication that she thought the conversation was now over.

She started to make her way to the trophy room, not expecting any reply, but was surprised by the absence of any footprints following after her. When she reached the first staircase, she risked one glance behind her, and noticed with a pang of annoyance that Potter had all but vanished.

_Trust him to leave me with the work_, she thought bitterly, biting her lip in frustration. She turned around again in a huff and continued onto the trophy room. Even after looking over her shoulder three times on the way, she never once caught sight of Potter. Grumbling as she felt another surge of annoyance at Potter's disappearance, she reached the door to the trophy room, and forcefully pushed it open.

The last thing Lily was expecting to see directly in front of her was Potter leaning casually against one of the glass cabinets.

"How the hell did you get here so fast?" she demanded suspiciously.

As Lily inspected him closer, she noted that he wasn't even breathing heavily and nothing seemed dishevelled in the slightest … though she couldn't tell whether or not his hair was messier than usual. That could just be because he was running his hands through his hair at that very moment.

James smirked infuriatingly and shrugged, lowering his arms down to rest by his side. "You walk pretty slow Evans. I've been waiting for two minutes."

"How did you get here?" Lily repeated.

"The first thing I did was put my right foot forward, which by the way you don't have to copy exactly. Left foot is fine too-"

Lily was one second away from putting either foot up a certain wizard's backside. "Potter!"

"Fine, whatever. I know some … shortcuts," James admitted, walking to the corner of the room to pick up a few buckets and sponges. With a simple incantation, the buckets filled up with soapy water, and levitated over to where Lily was standing.

"As in secret passageways?" Lily pressed on, unable to suppress her eagerness. So far in her five years, she had only come across a few secret passageways, all which were only useful for stashing things in, or skipping from one room to the next. Not floor to floor or across the other side of the castle, which was basically what Potter was implying.

"Why? Don't tell me Miss Evans actually wants to participate in breaking rules?"

"Come off it, Potter," Lily scoffed indignantly as she bent forward to pick up a wet sponge. "I'm not a complete stickler for the rules. How else would I have come up with that prank?"

James thought for a moment as he began to clean one of the glass cases.

"Alright then," he said finally, coming to a decision. "After detention, how about I show you one that will take us back to the Gryffindor tower?"

Lily got the nagging suspicion that Potter wasn't saying everything on his mind. "Why do I get the impression that you want something in return?" she complained, violently scrubbing a case next to Potter.

"Well there is a … toll of allowing you to pass through," admitted James, watching Lily via her reflection on the glass case.

"What? Don't tell me you actually make people _pay_ you?" Lily huffed in disgust, almost dropping her sponge. "No wonder you're so rich, you greedy lit-"

"Nobody other than the rest of the Marauders know about these passageways," James interjected solemnly.

Lily furrowed her brows slightly, confused. "Then why tell me?"

"I dunno. I felt like it, and I don't think you will tell everyone else in the school. You'd be level-headed about it, and keep it secret."

"You have so much trust in me, Potter. How did I ever gain it?"

James grimaced at what he was about to say next. "Not trust so much … as grudging admiration … and I thought I'd try your little trick of blackmail. I show you this passageway, and the next time I -uh bend the rules a bit, you can't take away points."

"I knew there was a catch," Lily said triumphantly, but was secretly pleased that it wasn't something worse.

"That's not all."

"Bella was right. I should have let her bash your skull in," Lily mumbled, her heart sinking.

James raised his eyebrows in mock appreciation. "You stopped her from doing that? I'm touched."

"Don't be. I wasn't doing it for you. I was doing it for her," Lily snapped, "Killing you would have been such a pain for any future resume of hers … although she _could_ have put it under pest removal." She pondered the last bit aloud.

"There is something seriously wrong with you Evans," commented James.

"Look in the mirror, Potter. If your head will fit, that is."

James' head snapped up, irritated. "You know that's the second comment this week that someone's said about my head."

"Think someone up there is telling you something?" Lily hinted wickedly.

"Shut it, Evans," he shot back. "I don't know how anyone would want to put up with you. You're such a prig."

"Yeah well, like I give two hoots to what you think of me, Potter."

There was silence for a moment as they continued to scrub the glass cases, both obstinately ignoring the other, until-

"So what's the other condition?" blurted Lily.

James smirked. "Eager aren't you? You actually want to hear it?"

She threw her rag at him, only for him to deftly catch it.

"Would I be asking if I didn't? Honestly, you are so dim-witted sometimes, it's a wonder how you ever passed first year."

"Hey, I resent that," protested James. "I'm only slightly lower than you in marks. I even _beat_ you in Transfiguration."

"Good for you. I bet you repeat that to yourself in front of the mirror all the time."

"I don't need to. My mirror reminds me. Also that I'm rather good-looking, my hair's-"

"-a lost cause?" Lily supplied dryly. "Anyway Potter, _tell_ me."

"Okay." Twisting his sponge in his hands, James sat back on his heels to regard Lily with a surprisingly serious expression. "I want to talk about that thing you said a few nights ago."

"Which night? And what thing did I say? I always say things to you," she asked, being deliberately vague. Suddenly the glass in front of her seemed very interesting.

"When you -uh met me in the prefects bathroom."

"That was definitely not _meeting_ you," Lily denied vehemently, not looking at him.

James flung his sponge back down into the bucket, making her jump back in surprise. "Stop avoiding the subject!" he cried out.

"I'm not!"

"Yes you _are, _and you slipped up last night, didn't you? You never meant for me to find out, right?"

Lily's mouth gaped open. With tremendous force, she closed it with a snap. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I think we should get back to work." She turned back to her glass case.

"Evans."

"I'm serious. Leave me alone."

"_Lily_." James decided to try her first name for once.

"What?" she spat out viciously, without bothering to turn around again. She was determined to steer clear of anything related to the other night's conversation, and his stubbornness was making things incredibly difficult to do so. The only thing left was to ignore him, however childish it was.

James' voice softened. "Just admit it."

For some reason, the change of his voice struck Lily deeper than ever before. Did he actually _care? No, he couldn't, _she thought angrily.

That anger propelled her to face James. "Admit what?" she asked, pointing an accusing finger at him. "Admit that you're a moron who can't learn to drop something? Admit that you have no consideration for anybody other than yourself? _Fine_, I can admit that. It's not as though anybody worth knowing has any regard for you either. _I _certainly don't."

Lily realised she had gone too far when James took a step forward angrily. She involuntarily shrunk back, raising her arm as if to ward him off.

"Don't …" she said softly.

Realising what she was implicating, James stopped in astonishment.

"You think I would actually … hit you?" he asked, hurt flashing in his eyes. Lily lowered her arm to glare angrily at James.

"I wouldn't put it past you."

James laughed, though he found nothing amusing about the situation at all.

"You really think so low of me, to actually think that I would resort to physical violence?" he exclaimed softly.

She scowled. "Why not? You've done much worse."

James groaned loudly. "You're still on about the fake wand prank I pulled on you in first year, aren't you?"

Caught off-guard by his sudden recollection, Lily was momentarily speechless. She'd truly never believed that James would ever remember one inconsequential prank that had been pulled all those years ago. To be honest with herself, she never wanted him to remember it either. This was the last thing she wanted to rehash with anyone, much less the instigator.

James took her silence as affirmation and smirked in satisfaction. "Didn't think I would remember that far back, did you?" he said, practically voicing her thoughts.

Lily cast a meaningful glare at James before gathering the courage to speak again. This was it. The moment. _Too late to back down now, Lily Evans. _He had definitely asked for this, sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

But it was still so hard to begin.

She focused her gaze on the trophy over James' shoulder. "It only started out being the prank in first year … I couldn't stand you, so cocky … thoughtless and immature, you never cared about anything except yourself and your pranks …"

Lily raised a hand as James went to interject. " … and over the years, you have yet to prove otherwise."

James face screwed up in anger, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Well, let me tell you something. It wasn't my fault that you couldn't handle a simple joke … I mean a fake wand? How could you not tell?" he jeered.

Lily gritted her teeth irritably, and it took all her will to restrain herself from strangling him.

"I was Muggleborn, are you that thick?" she spat out, before continuing on sourly, "Of course you are … so stupid of me for you to realise. You know, the whole trip to Hogwarts wasn't a whole barrel of laughs for me. It was quite difficult actually. I knew nothing, absolutely _nothing_ about Hogwarts, other than it was a school for magical people like me. I stepped onto that train, never knowing that I would be subject to ridicule, never expecting anyone to be openly hostile to me."

James interrupted her in confusion. "What does this have to do with me? I don't care that you're a Muggleborn."

"I haven't finished yet." Lily shook her head impatiently. "The fact is I thought I'd be welcome. Instead I spent the entire train ride, being updated on how 'Mudbloods' were not welcome at Hogwarts. It got to the point where I actually believed them … they were right, I knew nothing, I hadn't even tried a simple spell yet."

Lily stopped to take a deep breath as her voice was starting to shake slightly. The sponges lay forgotten in the buckets as the conversation continued on.

"That's why I was so shy after being sorted in Gryffindor. I wasn't normally reclusive, but I was scared that everyone felt the same way and I didn't belong..."

A flicker of guilt crossed James features, but Lily was too worked up to ponder on it more and continued on.

" … Then you and Sirius made me feel welcome, asking me to have a look at my wand." Her voice faltered as she fought to continue. "I- I was proud that you wanted to see it, and afterwards in the common room when I couldn't perform even the simplest spell I felt so ashamed…so pitiful…"

James face flashed in understanding and he stepped forward again, to stop her from revealing more. It was obvious to him that she hadn't intended to ever say this to him and he didn't want to embarrass her further. He'd apparently already done enough.

"Lily-"

But Lily simply ignored him. She had to tell him … make him understand. It was too out in the open for her to stop now.

"-I spent the whole night practicing _every single_ spell in that damn book … each time failing to even make a spark. The next day I was too ashamed to go to class, I didn't want anyone to find out that it was all a mistake … I couldn't go back."

"What do you mean you couldn't go back?" James asked.

"Couldn't go back to being an outcast … a freak. Ever since I received my first letter from Hogwarts, my sister despised me. I was a witch, something abnormal for her to scorn at. I was – I was afraid of returning home and finding that she would still hate me, just as I thought everyone at Hogwarts did."

"She hated you because you were a witch?" James asked incredulously.

"Yeah, she couldn't stand me. Before I got my letter, we were fine. Bickering like normal sisters do of course, but no hostility at all. Then after I found out I was a witch, she practically disowned me. Nothing I did for her would change the feelings she felt towards me. I was different than her … freakish. She still thinks the same of me actually."

"You're not a freak Evans, I admit you aren't entirely sane, but not a freak," James argued determinedly.

Lily smiled wryly and replied, "I think that was the nicest thing you have ever said to me."

James chuckled, nodding, but then his face grew serious again. "If it's worth anything now … I never thought about the complications of that prank."

Lily shrugged, not letting on that those words meant a whole lot more than she suggested.

"Thanks," she replied simply.

In an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, James crouched down by the bucket and playfully flicked a bit of water at her.

"I guess that's enough to let you pass through the passageway," he joked.

Lily was too drained to dignify herself with a witty response. "Great." She managed to mumble, discreetly trying to wipe away the tears that had trailed down her face.

* * *

"Freedom at last!" James exclaimed, practically skipping out of the trophy room. Lily slowly followed after him, not feeling quite as energetic.

Their detention had lasted another hour after their big confessional, most of that time, unsurprisingly spent in near silence. It had only ended when Filch had run in like a possessed spirit, the unpleasant scent of dungbombs lingering around him. Ironically enough, Peeves did have a collection of dungbombs he was planning on throwing down the hallways, and since Filch made his appearance, Peeves had aimed every single one at him.

They reached a frayed looking tapestry of a grumpy looking witch. James levitated the tapestry up and whispered a word Lily couldn't quite catch.

The wall in front of her shimmered to reveal a dark passageway.

"You never told me that we'd have to go through it in the dark." Lily complained as they entered the narrow passage.

"Lumos."

A light appeared at the end of James' wand. "Heard of that spell?" he asked sardonically, stepping over some half-rotten floorboards.

"Smartass," Lily muttered under her breath before following suite. She followed him carefully, afraid that any second now the floor would suddenly collapse beneath her feet. She'd never thought any of the castle could be in such bad condition

Five minutes passed by, and Lily felt herself moving slower and slower. She didn't like the feeling of the walls around her. It felt as though they were shrinking around her. Some adventure it was turning out to be.

"Hurry it up, Evans. I do want to get some sleep tonight." James commanded. He was about five paces in front of Lily, but had to constantly slow his pace so she could catch up.

"Are you sure this is a safe passageway? It's so narrow," she asked, unsure.

"Now she gets second doubts," James said to himself under his breath. A notch louder he answered, "We're more than halfway there. Don't start getting all claustrophobic on me now."

Lily hesitantly added, "You sure the floor won't-"

"-cave in?" James guessed correctly. "_Yes_, now get a move on."

Lily suddenly tripped on a loose rock and glared accusingly at James.

"Hey, I never said anything about things on the ground," he replied in defence, walking over to help her over the other loose rocks that were lying around.

Ten minutes later, they finally reached the end of the passageway. They both faced the back of the portrait, with Lily wondering which one it was.

"Ok, this is a little bit tricky," James said. "Our passageway isn't level with the actual hallway. It's in line with a painting, so we will have to jump down."

"Jump down? How far?" Lily's voice was nervous. She hated heights … even the staircases at Hogwarts made her queasy.

James detected her nervousness. "Don't worry, only a few feet. I'll go first, then I'll help you down."

"How?"

"I'll catch you," answered James, with a note of his usual arrogance. "You're looking at the Quidditch Captain here, remember? I won't drop you."

There was nothing to do but agree, so Lily reluctantly nodded. She watched as James pressed a button in the middle of the portrait, making it open.

James automatically jumped down, landing squarely on his feet. Lily peered out apprehensively, wincing as she realised the distance was almost her own height.

"Come on, I'll catch you." James called out, reaching his arms out in reassurance.

Lily gathered her courage and hopped down … with her eyes firmly closed. As James had promised, he swiftly caught her around the waist and lowered her gently to the ground.

But before she had the chance to open her eyes and thank him, something soft pressed against her lips, and the grip around her waist tightened. She was too shocked to react, other than to open her eyes and stare in disbelief at Potter, whose eyes had fallen shut as well. Her lips felt as though they were tingling on fire, and the sudden closeness between them was making her dizzy.

A few moments later she regained her senses and stepped back from the kiss, breaking contact with him.

"Evans – Lily, I'm … so sorry, I –" James began hoarsely, his face paling considerably at the realisation what he had done.

A loud crack echoed in the hallway. James raised a hand to his now stinging cheek.

"How dare you take advantage of me like that?" Lily hissed hysterically. "We finally put things behind us, and you do – something like – like that. I'm not something to be played with, Potter."

"I didn't mean to," James pleaded desperately.

Trembling considerably, Lily took another step back and looked around wildly. With her senses all muddled up right now, she couldn't discern where exactly she was.

"Turn left then you'll end up in the hallway with the Fat Lady," James said softly, still cradling his cheek.

Lily didn't even bother thanking him before running to the Fat Lady and giving the password. She made her way through the common room and up to her dorm, ignorant to all the people she pushed through brusquely and even to her friends who were sitting on one of the couches by the fire.

As she finally reached the dorm, she shut the door and leant against the wall. She slid down it as her legs felt unable to carry her any further.

The tears began to fall again, and Lily felt all her restraints dissolve. With one kiss, Potter had destroyed any sense of dignity she felt over herself. Almost self-consciously, she raised her fingers to run over her lips.

Surprisingly, they still felt slightly tingly.

* * *

**A/N:** Boy, this chapter ran away from me. I never intended this bit to happen yet, but it just fit in so perfectly and I know people have demanded some sort of romantic sloppiness between the two. I'm really bad at those sort of scenes though, so tell me what I can do to improve on it.

I've already got part of the next chapter written out, but I won't be updating for a while, because uni has started back up for me, and I've already been given assignments to do.

Anyway, thanks to the following reviewers:

**Parselmouth Majere: **_lol, I'm sorry, I cant help it. It's the accursed 'cliffy' disease that most authors tend to acquire when writing fics! I'll try not to do it this chapter._

**ThiMonkey: **_Thanks for your lovely comments, I hope you remain hooked on my story for many chapters to come, lol._

**Lil ellenphant: **_Nothing much happened? *Sob* Nah, only kidding. I'm afraid you will have quite a wait for Lily and James to get together though._

**BlueEyedWildmage: **_Yeah he was a little s*#t, wasn't he? Lol. I tried to show that James didn't remember the prank because there were so many, and he honestly didn't think that a simple prank would be the reason behind their hostility. It wasn't really a spectacular prank, if you understand what I'm saying._

**Lily-Pad: **_Thanks, I'm glad you liked it._

**Drops-of-winter: **_Thank you for understanding what I was trying to get across! I'm glad you thought the prank was enough reason for Lily to dislike James. And don't worry your other review did work, and I read it too. Thanks for reviewing twice as well!_

**Regulus Black: **_Yes exactly what I was thinking! Thanks for reviewing again._

**Anne Rosemary McSommers: **_Thanks!_

**TheStek: **_Yay, I'm relieved you agree with me too! I hope this chapter is soon enough for you._

**Soleil moon: **_Wow thanks for that! Your making me all hyper … lol. Anyway I hope you keep on reviewing._

**tv-fan-06: **_Thank you for reviewing again! _

**Zel: **_Thanks for your two reviews! I appreciate any input so please feel free to give me any suggestions on what I can do to make my summary better. I'm afraid I won't change my title though … as terribly clichéd as it sounds, I kinda like it. Oh and your little request is definitely weird, lol. What exactly do you mean? Could I just say somebody spread some margarine on their toast or something?_

**Shari: **_Great, another new reviewer! Yay! Thanks for reviewing. And yes Bella is a squib, but I started writing this fic before OotP came out, so I can't be bothered changing characters now._

**Coolcatjenny: **_Yes, that's exactly what I was kinda basing it on. I remembered how nervous Harry was that they had made some sort of a mistake, and that he would be sent home. I figured Lily would feel pretty much the same … even worse because unlike Harry, her parents weren't even magical. Harry at least, found out that his parents were magical like him. And yes I have had this prank planned out since the beginning. I had even written bits and pieces of this chapter before I started the story. It was just a matter of piecing it all together to make sense!_

**Stringbean: **_Thanks for reviewing again. I've noticed that you love their little fights. I do too, and hopefully you won't be disappointed with their next one._

**high?D: **_Thank you! :)_

**DRUIDGIRL: **_No problem, reviewing this chapter made up for it! At first I thought Lily should be madder at Sirius, but then I thought that everyone reacts differently to situations, and James did seem to be the more dominant one in the prank (from Lily's point of view that is). Snape will be making an appearance soon as well. _

**Tay: **_lol, don't bang your head too hard, you'll lose brain cells … and I can tell you now that ain't a good thing. He he. Anyway, sorry, ummm I guess I got the idea of the name Sionell from a book I once read. It was spelt differently but I thought it sounded like a name that could be used in the wizarding world. Also Mrs Figg is a aquib but I started writing this fic before OotP came out, and it's too late to change Bella now._

**Imnop: **_Thank you for reviewing. Hope this is soon enough._

**Snuffles: **_Whoah calm down there … lol. You sound like Bella, hehe. I'm glad you liked the conversation too. The peter comment I kind of got from Lily's comment in OotP. It could tie in with later on, hint hint._

_And thanks again for reviewing. Keep it up please. I just love it!_

**Ivy Crane: **_I always got the impression that James and Sirius were always the closest friends, and maybe they knew each other before they came to Hogwarts. I just thought that they would have met up with Remus afterwards. And I thought that Remus probably wouldn't have wanted to participate in the prank anyway. He's much too sensitive to be a part of it._

**GoodCharlotte: **_lol, he was mean, wasn't he? I promise he wont remain the same guy for the rest of the story. He'll gradually change … for the better._

**Zane Lupin: **_Yay I'm not a doofus … I'm not a doofus … I'm not … maybe I should stop there, otherwise I'll turn into Ginny and the twins. Lol. It's great that you understood what I was trying to get across with the prank. I was really nervous that people would think it was really lame, and too pitiful for Lily to hold a grudge for so long. Umm, I don't really have any reason to why Sirius remembered it. I just thought maybe he could have been the one to think up the prank or something. I doubt he would have noticed Lily's feelings … Remus would have, but not Sirius. Lol, and I think my idea did originally come to me after I read about the twins fake wands in the fourth book. You're so observant (which is a good thing)!_

**Purple Spotted Hedwig: **_That's alright, I'm glad you came back to read my story! _

**Write-on3108: **_Thanks, and don't worry I really think Remus deserves a girlfriend too. He's such a sweetie! I'm trying to work it in the story, but I still want to focus more on Lily and James at the moment._

**LaffyTaffy: **_Thanks! Your review was great to read! I was thinking of going past Hogwarts, but lately I have started to think that I shouldn't … just as you said. Anyway I hope you keep on reviewing, cos I just loooove reviews._

**Carmenel: **_Thank you!_

**Ruth: **_lol, thanks for the review! I hope you keep on reading._

**Ebony: **_Thank you! I'm glad you like both so far. I'm very flattered!_

**Muse: **_Thank you! It's good to know people think I actually have writing skills … lol._


	15. Admittance or denial?

****

Title: Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Spoilers: **Written before Ootp, HBP & DH but contains some spoilers.

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Forewords:** I am very, _very_ sorry for taking so long to update this time. I had a stupid essay due this week, as well as planning my 18th birthday party! Yay, at least the second bit wasn't completely horrible. I'm so excited, only one week to go, until I'm legal! Wooohooo! Sorry.

Anyway, I decided to put the rest of my uni work aside for the moment (not that I entirely mind), to give you this chapter. Hopefully, this means extra reviews :)

Sigh … one can only hope, lol.

* * *

**Diametrically Opposed**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Fifteen**

_Admittance or Denial?_

_.._

James was greeted by three enthusiastic voices as he tiredly trudged into his dorm, hand still pressed onto his cheek. Peter and Remus were on their respective beds reading, and Sirius was on the floor, doing what looked to be a jigsaw puzzle.

"Hey," greeted Peter who had the closest bed to the door.

"Hey," he grunted, stiffly lowering his arm to shut the door behind him.

Remus snapped his book shut to take a better look at James. James' tone alone suggested that something had happened in detention.

"What have you done now, Prongs?" Remus asked.

"How'd you know I've done something?" James' tone was defensive and slightly guilty as he walked over to his own bed.

"It could have been the tone of your voice-" began Remus.

"- Or it could just be the fact that you have a major red handprint on the right side of your face." Sirius interjected knowingly from his place on the floor.

"Oh," James sighed wearily, shrugging off his dirty robes. "It looks as bad as it feels then."

"Who slapped you?" asked Sirius, his eyes focusing on James whilst he haphazardly placed a jigsaw piece onto the puzzle.

James reply was distorted as a loud explosion erupted from the floor. Amidst the cloud of smoke, Sirius's arms could be seen waving around madly.

When the smoke settled, Sirius sheepishly grinned.

"Exploding puzzles. I was really bored," he explained, patting down his hair, which was still smoking. "Sorry, I missed what you said. Who slapped you?"

Remus and Peter had fallen off their beds in laughter, but not even watching Sirius' smoking hair was enough to cheer James' spirits.

"Evans." he repeated miserably, and this time everyone was able to hear.

Peter chuckled. "Oh that's right, she had detention tonight too. From hexing Josh."

"Wasn't half as good as what Prongs here did though … calling McGonagall an old bat," Sirius mentioned, laughing. "Priceless-"

"-although incredibly stupid." Peter added in between laughs.

Again, James didn't join in the laughter, and Remus asked curiously, "So what happened?"

James frowned, his mind recounting the events leading up to the slap. "As we were in detention," he began. "I confronted her about … something that I had done to her-"

"The prank we did in first year? The one you were talking about the other night?" guessed Sirius.

"Yeah." James replied slowly. "And we kind of worked things out … Afterwards we walked back to the common room together, through that secret passageway by the hall-"

"-You told her about it?" Sirius asked accusingly. "More importantly, you showed it to her and _used_ it?"

James guessed that Sirius would react like that. He was so protective of their little discoveries sometimes, but at the time he's mentioned to Lily, he hadn't really cared.

In his defence he replied stubbornly, "Yeah, she was really interested, and it's not as though she's going to tell anyone. Besides," He paused for a moment, as if the next part would settle the matter. "She promised."

Remus cut in before Sirius changed the subject entirely. "So anyway, what happened between the apology and the slap? I thought you said you sorted things out."

"Like I said, for a while we did, then I kind of … screwed it up," James replied hesitantly, sitting on the corner of his bed.

"How?"

"I – uh – I did the thing she – and I least expected. I - kissed her."

Three mouths simultaneously dropped and James anxiously waited for their reply. He expected a lot of laughing, to say the least. Amazingly, he was wrong. They were all watching him, their faces showing disbelief (as James was sure his face had shown after realising what he had done) … but not amusement … sympathy perhaps?

"What did she say?" Peter asked finally.

"At first, she said nothing-"

Sirius interrupted as he exhaled loudly. "Whoah - you mean that you actually rendered her speechless for a moment?" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, the moment that she slapped me senseless." James replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he motioned to his still red face. "I think that her actions spoke louder than any words could have though."

"So, Remus has been right all along. You do fancy Evans," Sirius said bluntly.

"No!" James moaned in exasperation. He jumped up. "I don't know. I'm so confused."

"If you don't know, then why did you kiss her?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" exclaimed James, pacing up and down the dorm. The truth was he didn't actually know. He hadn't been thinking clearly when he kissed her. He sighed before explaining weakly, "I mean, I had just caught her as she jumped down from that stupid portrait, and I had my arms around her waist. Then she was – just – just standing there in front of me … with her eyes closed, and looking so – so …" He couldn't go on any longer and he trailed off.

"So?" Remus prompted.

" … enchanting." James mumbled softly, his face turning a deep shade of red.

"So let me get this straight." Sirius said, standing up. "First you apologise for playing a _prank_ on her …"

James nodded as he restlessly sat down on the edge of his bed again.

"… Then you go and show her a secret passageway known only to us Marauders …"

James nodded again. Now that he was hearing what he had done from another person, he couldn't help but cringe. He had been acting ridiculous … _completely_ out of character for him.

" … then you kiss her –"

"-and describe her as being enchanting," Peter chimed in.

This time, James didn't even bother with a nod; his face was planted firmly in his hands. What was wrong with him?

"Prongsie, old boy. You have fallen _hard_," informed Sirius, grinning.

James' head popped up to look at Sirius with a mixture of indignation and helplessness. "How does that all sum up to liking her?" he argued weakly. That couldn't be the reason he was so messed up, he thought desperately … could it?

"Well I'd say the last comment definitely threw me," replied Peter.

"Yeah usually its '_hey look at that fine piece of work' _or _'she'd be good for a snog',_" Sirius added with another grin.

"Like you're any better," mumbled James, turning his back on them as he placed his glasses on his bedside table. He really didn't need to hear this from his friends. He didn't – couldn't like Evans. She was so …

"Face it, Prongs. I've noticed how different you treat her from everyone else," Remus said from across the room, pulling James out of his thoughts. "As much as you hate to admit it, it's obvious that you have some sort of … feelings towards her."

"When did I officially lose my mind?" groaned James, throwing himself onto his bed as he desperately tried to think of a reasonable excuse to Remus' comments. "I mean … I can't – like her … She's – she's _Evans_."

Even to him, his excuse sounded lame, and Sirius let out an amused chuckle.

"You never did have much sense, Prongs," he said, "and I'm sure as hell not going to find out what made you like her … but the fact remains that you do."

Remus sealed it for James as he added, "So you're just going to have to deal with it … and win her over … Show her who you _really_ are. Not the fool you seem to act like when you're around her."

The conversation pretty much ended after that, as James wordlessly turned off the light and climbed under his covers. He had much to think about that night … the majority centering around a certain red-headed prefect … one with an extremely strong arm.

* * *

After spending the night tossing and turning, Lily woke earlier than usual to avoid her friend's interrogation over the previous night. She barricaded herself in the bathroom, and went about her usual daily routine. Just as she was drying her hair, she heard Bella's voice through the bathroom door, demanding her to let her in.

Lily pretended to ignore her as she studied herself in the mirror. Her vibrant green eyes were duller than usual, not to mention puffy from the crying. She also had large bags under her eyes from the sleepless night, and the rest of her face was paler than usual.

There was no way she was going out to face her friends looking like that, she decided firmly … nor was she going to go out for breakfast. Firstly, Lily didn't want her friends to know what had happened. Bella would kill Potter at first sight, and Sionell would insist that she talk about it. Secondly, she would just be asking for it, strolling into the great hall … allowing Potter to see how much that stupid kiss had affected her.

Lily sighed, leaning back against the bathroom door. Bella had left by then, shrieking like a banshee that she would at least get a decent breakfast before she rammed the door down.

"Lily?" Sionell's concerned voice crept through the door and Lily knew she couldn't avoid them forever. She still remained silent though … a perfect example of her streak of stubbornness.

Too bad Sionell was equally as stubborn.

"Alright Lil, so what's wrong with you today?" she called out determinedly. "I'm not leaving until I get an answer."

"Nothing's wrong," Lily lied, ruefully rubbing her sore eyes.

"Obviously there is," argued Sionell. Her voice was slightly teasing as she added, "You wouldn't have risked your life by locking Bella out of the bathroom if there wasn't."

"She hasn't come back yet, has she?" Lily asked apprehensively. Once Bella was in a mood, it was only common sense to avoid her until she would snap out of it.

"No." replied Sionell, "But it's only a matter of time before she comes back and kicks you out of there." There was a pause, before Sionell added, "We're just looking out for you Lil."

Lily sighed again, standing up. "I know," she replied softly, albeit a bit guiltily. She really shouldn't be shutting them out of everything, as they did deserve to know. They were her best friends after all.

A few moments later she reluctantly unlocked the door and emerged from the bathroom. She felt uncomfortable as Sionell took in her red, puffy eyes, and her pale face.

"There is something wrong, then?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes," Lily nodded, looking down at the floor. She took a deep breath as she blurted the next bit out, "Potterkissedme."

"What?" Sionell's tone was incredulous.

This time Lily spoke slower, but her hands were fidgeting in nervousness. "Last night in detention … Potter kissed me."

"On the lips?" Sionell asked foolishly.

"No, being the dashing gentleman he is, he gave me a peck on the hand." Lily replied sarcastically. "Of course on the lips."

"Did you kiss him back?" Sionell inquired softly.

The reply was vehement. "No!" Lily cried out. "At first – at first I didn't even know what was happening … I mean we were up high, and my eyes were closed, so – so I wasn't expecting it or anything."

"So that's why you're so worked up?"

Lily was silent as she looked down at the ground again. There was one other thing, but she was even more unwilling to bring it up than the kiss. The whole night, she had tried to forget about it … it was just so _embarrassing_ to even think about, let alone talk about to someone else. Her friends didn't even know.

"Lily," Sionell began warningly. "Is there more to it than you're saying?"

"It - wasn't just a - a kiss," Lily moaned finally as she collapsed onto her bed. "It was my – first kiss."

Sionell looked at Lily in surprise as she replied, "First kiss? But what about Bobby last year? I thought you–"

"No," said Lily, shaking her head. "I chickened out. I pecked him on the cheek … that's it … I've always wanted to wait for the perfect guy, you know?"

"Like it happens in all those romance novels you read," Sionell guessed.

"Yeah," replied Lily, sheepishly. "I know it sounds stupid, but there's never been a guy that _felt_ right, and there hasn't been many guys anyway … Actually since I transfigured Potter's face, I'd say the rest of the male population has steered clear of Miss Lily Evans."

"Except Potter," Sionell reminded her with a grin.

Lily groaned. "Why did it have to be with Potter?" she whined. "Anyone but him … I always imagined it would be with a guy I didn't actually feel like hexing 24 hours a day."

Sionell looked thoughtfully at Lily and cracked a sudden mischievous grin. "Was it good?"

Lily's jaw dropped in disbelief at the unexpected question. "Sionell, how can you ask me that?" she cried. "It's _Potter_." She said his last name in disgust.

"I'm sorry you're right …" Sionell agreed, before adding a few seconds later, "but I am curious. I've heard rumours about his – uh ability."

Lily sighed in defeat as she sat down. "It was only for a few seconds … I don't know about any - ability."

"Surely you must have felt something," Sionell dismissed with a wave. "Just say something – anything."

"Well … alright," Lily conceded, before blushing slightly. "I – my lips kind of felt like they were on fire … even – afterwards."

"That's a start," Sionell replied, grinning, then wondered aloud, "Imagine the results if you didn't pull away."

"I would never-" Lily was aghast.

"I know," Sionell reassured gently, "So what was his reaction?"

As Lily thought back, she cringed a bit at her reaction. She had gone a bit far in slapping him, now that she thought about it. "He was shocked, and … red," she said finally.

"Red as in flushed?" Sionell stopped as Lily shook her head. "Or … red as in what?" she asked.

"Red as in 'I slapped him' red." Lily admitted sheepishly.

Sionell let out a cry of surprise. "You slapped him? Boy Bella would love to be hearing this."

"Say one word to Bella and I'll hex you within an inch of your life," threatened Lily. "If Bella found out … the results would be catastrophic. She'd probably make a big deal about it, and kill Potter … and then everyone would find out."

"Potter will probably tell everyone though. Wouldn't it be better just to tell Bella now, instead of her finding out later?"

"I don't really think Potter's going to say anything," Lily argued stubbornly, "Not unless he wants a matching handprint anyway."

"Alright, alright," Sionell agreed reluctantly. "I won't say anything to anyone else not even Bella." She stopped as she looked at the time. "Where is Bella anyway?"

* * *

As Remus walked into the great hall the next morning, he found Bella there already. He took in the dishevelled, un-brushed hair, and the deadly glare she was sending towards everyone … and concluded something was up.

"Problems?" Remus asked Bella as he slid in to sit across from her.

Bella grunted. "How can you tell?"

"I noticed that there is somewhat of a five foot space between you and the rest of the Gryffindors," he replied back, smiling.

"Bloody Lily wouldn't let me into the bathroom this morning," Bella explained, grumpily running a hand through her tangled hair. "She locked me out."

"Then that means there are two pissed off girls this morning then," Remus guessed. "I'd better be finding a good place to hide."

Bella couldn't help but laugh at that thought. "I think you'd be the last person that anyone would want to hurt," she replied. "Besides, the two pissed off girls would be focusing more on each than anyone else … because of Lily, I didn't even get to have a shower!" She added indignantly, grabbing a piece of toast and dropping it onto her plate.

"What made Lily do that?"

Bella frowned in frustration. "I wouldn't have a clue. She snuck up to our dorm after her detention last night and didn't talk to us, or anything. Then this morning, she was up earlier than both Sionell and me, and she wouldn't let either of us in."

Remus appeared to ponder the matter, but inwardly he was smiling. It seemed that the kiss had affected Lily as much as it had affected James. That had potential, he thought. "Hmmm," he said finally.

"You know what's going on already though, don't you?" Bella accused, fiercely spreading margarine on the piece of toast.

"Whatever made you think that?" he asked in amazement.

"You've got the same look on your face that you always have in DADA when you know the answer," replied Bella, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice. "It's kinda creepy looking, by the way."

"I don't know what's going on," he insisted, figuring that if Lily didn't want her friends to know yet then he wouldn't tell. As Remus comically tried to make his face look more normal again, Bella almost choked on her toast, and the matter was forgotten.

"Better?" Remus asked finally, allowing a small smile to appear on his face.

"Much," replied Bella, smiling back as she finished her breakfast. She stood up abruptly, intending to say goodbye to Remus, but was interrupted as he stood up alongside her.

"Fancy a walk with me?" he asked her, motioning towards the doors as he reached out his arm for her to grab onto.

"Sure … killing Lily can come later," Bella smirked, linking her arm with his as her mood began to drastically improve. "You sure you don't mind a pissed off girl hanging around you?" she asked jokingly as they walked outside.

"Only if don't mind hanging around with a creepy looking DADA student."

"I think I can handle it," Bella said, nodding seriously.

"Me too."

They both burst out laughing as they reached the Lake.

* * *

James walked aimlessly through the castle after an early breakfast. So far he had managed to avoid everyone other than his friends, and for that he was glad.

The night before had been one of the longest James' had ever had to experience, purely because his mind decided to bring up things he desperately wanted to deny. At that moment, he looked and felt terrible. His eyes were half-closed, his whole body felt like they'd been hit with a jelly legs curse, and one side of his face still ached, yet thankfully hadn't bruised.

Only vaguely aware that he had passed into a secret hallway, millions of questions began to run through his head again … the same ones that had bothered him so much during the night … questions to which he could find no probable answer.

Why _did_ he care what Evans thought about him? Why was it that no one else managed to get on his nerves so much? What possessed him to kiss her last night?

"Why do I insist on dwelling on her now?" he asked the hallways aloud, then groaned when he realised where he had turned up.

Without knowing it, James had led himself straight back to the scene of the crime … or in James' particular case, scene of the kiss. He looked down at the incriminating ground after opening the portrait, and then jumped down. Thinking back to when he had done the exact same thing … James concluded that he had not thought of kissing her until she had been standing in front of him.

The kiss … well that was another matter altogether. No excuse for it seemed to pop into his head, as he honestly had never consciously thought of doing it before. Of course that didn't mean that he didn't enjoy it. For those few moments, he had felt content … with his arms wrapped around her, and his face only inches away from hers …

He had to cut his thoughts off there. He was starting to sound like the characters in Evan's bloody romance novels.

James couldn't help but sigh as he looked back up at the offending portrait. Is what Remus and Sirius have been saying to him true? Does all this add up to liking her?

So far, to him that was the only reason, whether he liked it or not.

"I must have a death wish," he grumbled, making his way to the Fat Lady. When he was only about five feet away from the portrait, it swung open to reveal the very same person that had haunted him during the night.

Lily.

She was walking with one of her friends, but was gesturing that she needed to go somewhere.

James hid back around the corner, and stuck out his head an inch or so, so he could hear them properly.

"… Don't worry about waiting Sionell," Lily was saying. "I need to go see Professor Flitwick about our latest assignment."

Her friend Sionell seemed to nod slightly and after talking softly for a few moments waved goodbye and turned to leave.

As soon as Sionell left, James made a split second decision to talk to Lily about the night before. Just as he began to think how ironic it was that he had to talk to her about another incident, he realised that more than ten seconds had passed and Lily had already disappeared down the hallway.

"Damn," James swore, but instead of running after her, he decided to just beat her there by another secret passageway. He took off down the hallway, finally reaching another secret passageway behind one of the tapestries. Taking a quick look to make sure nobody was watching, he entered. He jogged the entire length in a matter of minutes, and managed to come out right opposite the charms classroom.

No sign of Evans yet, James thought in relief as he leant against the wall. A few moments later he heard footsteps echoing through the hallways. Thinking it must be her he straightened up and fluffed his hair a bit.

"YOU!" he cried out in disgust when the person finally came into view.

It wasn't Lily.

Instead it was the sneaky Slytherin bastard, Snivellus who sneered back at him.

"Bugger off Potter."

James scowled and automatically reached for his wand.

Talking to Evans could wait. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to teach Snivellus a lesson.

* * *

**A/N:** I know, I know. I've kinda left it on a cliffhanger. I'm sorry, but the next bit wouldn't have fit in, and I figured you'd rather have this chapter now, than have to wait another day or so. Anyway please review!

As usual, thanks to the following reviewers:

**Jedusor:**_ Alright that's fine, I'll mention it in this chapter, lol. You said that you only ask the authors of your favourite stories to do it, so how could I refuse with such flattery. Anyway, thanks for reviewing again._

**TheStek:**_ Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'd say James definitely screwed things up a bit, and you'll find out more about their feelings this chapter._

**Parselmouth Majere:**_ Lol, sorry about that. Thanks for reviewing again._

**Anarane Anwamane:**_ Exactly, lol. Too bad it doesn't seem like that to Lily. Thanks for reviewing._

**Ruth3:**_ Thank you so much! I'm sooo happy that you like my fic, and I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long._

**Imnop:**_ Thanks for reviewing again, and I'm glad you liked the chapter!_

**Kelsey Potter Black:**_ That's alright, I don't mind. At least your reviewing now ;) And I can understand that there are other things in life other than reading and reviewing fanfics, lol. Oh and one other thing. It is definitely not summer over here in Australia. I'm freezing my butt off here as it's winter, lol._

**tv-fan-06:**_ Thank you!_

**Purple Spotted Hedwig:**_ I know, I must seem so annoying to you by creating more problems between the two. Ah well, it will get better eventually. Thanks for reviewing._

**kevin luver:**_ Thanks for reviewing, and you'll find out this chapter how Lily is feeling about everything. As well as James._

**Write-on3108:**_ I thought since you've been reviewing my fic for so long, I'd put in something just for you. Read on and you'll find out. Hope it's to your satisfaction for now._

**lily:**_ lol, I will. Thanks for reviewing._

**Ivy Crane:**_ Thanks, and their friends reactions will be in this chapter. I hope you like it._

**BlueEyedWildmage:**_ lol, I know. The little fights between them aren't going to end yet so don't worry, and thanks for reviewing._

**DRUIDGIRL:**_ Way ahead of you there, lol. Your going to get a lovely little insight on James' thoughts, as well as some others. Thanks for reviewing again, and I'm glad that you enjoyed the whole little kiss incident._

**KLD:**_ Thank you! You really made me blush there. I do plan out my chapters before I write them, otherwise I don't reckon they would make any sense at all, lol. I hope you keep on reviewing._

**Drops-of-Winter:**_ lol, I loved the little chant. You're a poet and you didn't even know it … oh boy that was sad. Anyway, sorry it took so long for me to update, oh faithful fan. I hope this chapter makes up for it, and I'm glad that you enjoyed the kiss._

**Daisy:**_ lol, just a bit of romantic stuff. It might not continue though. Thanks for reviewing._

**Zane Lupin:**_ Yay, you liked it. He he, it wasn't really my intention at first to put it in, but then I thought, 'hey if it keeps people guessing' then I might as well keep it in, lol. Hmmm, I can't tell you what James does, but don't worry you'll find out this chapter. All I can say is, the kiss was a surprise to him too! I'm glad you enjoyed the note-passing bit and where James apologises. As for the 'lost case' bit, it wasn't a typo, because I was thinking about one of my law subjects at uni at the time, lol. Normally I'd say 'lost cause', but I thought the other way kinda made sense too (at the time anyway). Hopefully I made sense there. Anyway, thanks for reviewing again._

**myself:**_ Thank you very much, but my story wont be finishing anytime soon. It will finish at the end of their seventh year. I hope you keep on reading though._

**icemint:**_ Thank you, and I will. This week took longer to update than most other times, but only because I've just started uni again and I had mounds of assignments to do._

**NiNa PoP:**_ Thanks, and I'm glad you were surprised by the kiss. I always like to keep people on their toes if you know what I mean. Otherwise it just gets too predictable. As for Lily, well you'll find out what her feelings are this chapter._

**Moony391:**_ I have to agree with you in feeling sorry for poor James. Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you keep on reading and reviewing. _

**Black Cherry Lipz:**_ Yeah, I thought the same way too about having Lily kiss him back. It just wouldn't fit at the moment. And thanks for reviewing again!_

**kiwi:**_ lol, so am I. I'm sorry I haven't included much romance until now. Later will have it though. Thanks for reviewing._

**butterfly:**_ Thank you and I hope you keep on reading._

**JAK009:**_ Thank you! I really appreciated your review and I'm so happy that you like my writing. I hope you keep on reading and reviewing._

**Snuffles:**_ He he, glad to know you don't always know what I'm planning in my story. As I said to someone else, I like to keep people guessing otherwise my story would be just like all the soaps out there. Easy to predict!, lol. You'll find out this chapter what Lily will do, as well as James. And your right, I did leave a lot to be interpreted, so hopefully this chapter will tie things together more. Anyway I'm glad you liked this chapter. Thanks for reviewing again, and I hope you keep it up!_

**Stringbean:**_ Thank you! I'm very pleased that you liked it and I hope you keep on reviewing._

**Tay:**_ lol, ok then. Thanks for reviewing again! _

**Legolas' girl: **_Wow, thanks for the great review. I'm glad you thought the prank was funny, and that you like my story. I hope you keep on reading and reviewing!_


	16. Wrong place at the wrong time

**Title:** Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Spoilers: **Written before Ootp, HBP and DH, but contains some spoilers.

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Forewords:** I am extremely sorry for not updating for so long! Unfortunately I experienced somewhat of a writers block trying to write out this chapter. I've had ideas, but haven't been able to write it the way I liked it. There has also been the little issue of me finally turning 18, so therefore I've been spending a bit too much time going out! He he.

Originally I wasn't even considering having part of this chapter happen, but as I am planning on fitting in the little 5th year episode from OotP, I've had to put it in. I know some of this might not make sense, but bear with me for the moment, please. I think when you read this chapter, you will know what crap I am going on about. (I hope).

Ok on with the story … finally (I'm sure you're saying right now)

* * *

**Diametrically Opposed **

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen**

_Wrong Place at the Wrong Time_

_.._

The two glared at each other for a few moments, until Snape attempted to push past him.

"I don't think so, _Snivellus_," James sneered, forcefully pushing Snape back so he stumbled into the wall.

"Get out of my way Potter," hissed Snape, his black eyes glinting dangerously as he straightened up.

James laughed cruelly, and pointed the wand directly at Snape. "Sorry what did you say? I missed it," he asked in mock concern, before narrowing his eyes. "I was too busy thinking of how I'm going to teach you a lesson."

As Snape reached for his wand, James casually mumbled, "_Expelliarmus_."

The wand went flying across the hallway to land by James' feet and he smirked. "You know by now not to try duelling with me, Snivellus. We already know who the winner's going to be."

"Only because you play dirty," Snape shot back angrily.

"Me play dirty?" James scoffed incredulously. "This is coming from a Slytherin - who spends his life playing dirty … whose main goal in life is to grovel at Voldemort's feet? Come on, don't be ridiculous."

James laughed at Snape's flinch. "Afraid to say your master's name are we?" he mocked.

"Shut up Potter," Snape commanded coldly, eyeing his wand.

"I don't think you're the one who should be giving orders, Snivellus," remarked James, adopting an almost carefree tone. "It's not in your nature."

Snape swore under his breath, but remained still. James gave another harsh bark of laughter, before turning his attention to a previously unseen bag, which was secured firmly around Snape's right shoulder.

"Whatcha got there Snivelly?" James asked, pointing his wand casually over to the bag.

Snape didn't answer, but he lifted one arm to grip onto the bag. His eyes however, were still focused intently on James; the loathing clear for all to see.

"Must be important," James continued on, unfazed as he returned the look. "… Maybe I should take a look … _Diffindo_."

With the speed of lightning, a light hit Snape's bag and caused the bag to split in two. Snape's belongings immediately began to fall from the tear, and James laughed again, watching as some ink bottles smashed onto the ground.

"Really Snivellus," drawled James, as he kicked two ink covered potions books. "Don't you have anything better to do, other than studying potions? You'd think a shower every now and then wouldn't be too much trouble."

All of a sudden and without any warning, Snape flung himself desperately at his wand, and James eagerly opened his mouth to hex him.

"_Stupefy_-"

As a red light emitted from James' wand, he heard a voice behind him, "_Expelliarmus_," and suddenly another light intercepted his own spell. His spell was rebounded towards the other end of the hallway, and Snape managed to grab his wand and stand up. In amidst the confusion, James turned around to glare accusingly at …

… Evans?

It didn't even occur to him at that moment that he had previously been waiting for her. She had just denied him the pleasure of hexing Snape into the next century … and to top it all off, Snape was now pointing his wand back at him.

"What do you think your doing?" James hissed venomously, then watched incredulously as _she_ pointed her wand towards him. Great, now he had two wands pointing at him. He definitely wouldn't be able to hex Snape now, he thought in disappointment, glaring intensely at Evans. The kiss had now been completely wiped out of his mind.

"What do I think I'm doing?" Lily repeated shrilly. "What do you think _you're_ doing, picking on Severus like that?"

Before James could reply, Snape interrupted gruffly, "Go away Evans. I don't need your help."

James snorted, spinning around to face Snape again. "Sure you didn't, Snivelly. You were planning on getting stupefied were you?" he asked scornfully.

"_Shut up_ Potter," cried Lily, turning her head to look back at Snape. "I was only trying to help," she added in a soft voice.

"I told you I don't need your help!" Snape repeated, his jaw hardening.

"Of course you do Snivellus," James said, "Face it, you're just too weak to be able to protect yourself … look at the Ball. Had to get your _Gryffindor date_ to defend you against the little bullies."

"Pott-" Lily began.

"_Shut up Evans_."

Lily stopped in shock, her face flashing with hurt as she looked at Severus, who was snarling back at her. "But – but I –" she stammered.

"Just keep your filthy nose away from where it doesn't belong," Snape said harshly, making Lily flinch back.

James quickly jumped to Lily's defence, who was still standing there as though James' stray spell _had_ stupefied her.

"Hey, don't you dare talk to her like that Snivellus," he yelled angrily. "She's the only one out of this whole school who would willingly defend your worthless little butt." … _not that I have any idea why, _James added silently.

"I'm not a charity case. I can take care of myself without _her_," Snape scowled before turning on his heels and stalking away.

Lily watched Snape's retreating back with a foreboding presence, wondering why he had acted so cruel towards her just then. She had only been trying to defend him against Potter. It wasn't as though she had deliberately followed him as some kind of a 'protector' or anything like that. She just didn't want to see him being involved in an unprovoked attack with Potter. She let out a small sigh of despair, and looked down at the ground, completely forgetting that Potter was still behind her.

James hadn't forgotten though, and studied her thoughtfully in those moments of silence. She seemed to be upset, which shouldn't even be an option where Snivellus was concerned. All feelings of anger towards Evans dissipated, and he almost felt like turning around and chasing after Snivellus again … purely for her benefit of course.

Eventually he decided against it and cautiously approached Lily.

"Evans?" he called softly, reaching out an arm to touch her on the shoulder.

It was only then that Lily remembered James' presence and she recoiled in disgust, intent on walking away. "Do you find some sort of sadistic pleasure in ruining everything in my life?" she growled, refusing to meet Potter's eyes.

"What?" James was shocked, none to say the least and he grasped her arm to pull her back. "Of course not," he exclaimed, ignoring the fact that Lily was trying to pull away.

"Then why do you always pop up everywhere? … I can never get rid of you," exclaimed Lily, her voice now barely above a whisper as she glanced down at Potter's hand, which still gripped her arm. "That prank, the ball, my birthday, the detention-" she cut herself off, flushing and biting her lip in frustration. "And now," she added quickly. "It's as if you're following me."

Whatever she expected from Potter, wasn't a flush of embarrassment … but when she looked up, there it was … one, which she was sure had been mirrored on her own face only moments ago when she mentioned the stupid kiss. She gasped in realisation and annoyance.

"You've been following me?"

James hastily loosened his grip on her arm, and took a hesitant step back.

"No! … At least not until today," he admitted sheepishly. "I wanted to talk to you but-"

"-instead you decided to fit some 'Snape' time into your busy schedule," Lily finished cuttingly.

"What's wrong with that?" said James, cockily. "He just asks for it … the way he strolls around, practicing his dark arts and – and making all those dark potions."

Lily frowned. "How do you know he does all that?" she demanded. "Have you started to follow him around now too, have you?"

"As if I'd waste my time. It's pretty obvious, seeing as he comes from _Slytherin_."

"Just leave him alone Potter," Lily said firmly. "Not all people deserve your little taunts and hexes."

"I can't believe that you're _still_ defending that idiotic Slytherin," groaned James, restraining himself from physically shaking some sense into her. "I've seen you sometimes after we've pulled a prank on him. You may seem annoyed but you still enjoy it … somewhere deep down."

"What, so you think you know me well enough to know how I feel?" Lily snorted derisively, choosing not to deny that particular fact. Granted, she had found it slightly amusing in the past, when Severus and her had never conversed … but now, she felt guilty if she laughed at his misfortune. Even after what he had just done to her. She knew that Severus was just hurting and angry about being picked on again. It was just too ridiculous and incomprehensible to think that it really could have been her that he was actually angry at.

Almost unknowingly, her mouth took off without her brain as she added angrily, "Because if you did know how I felt, then you most certainly wouldn't have dared to come within ten feet of me, let alone kiss me."

She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth and she clapped both hands over her mouth as though to stop anything else coming out. She really hadn't meant to sound so heartless and cruel and her eyes opened wide in trepidation, as she dared to sneak a look in Potter's direction again.

James was speechless for a moment, surprisingly feeling as though she'd shoved a dagger right into his heart. His mouth opened and shut fruitlessly, as first hurt began to rise up. Hurt, because she was right. He didn't know her at all, but the creepy thing was he did want to know her. As much as he hated to admit it … in a way he did want to be within ten feet of her. That feeling passed quickly and was conveniently forgotten as he became consumed in indignant anger instead. He did _not_ – could not like her, but he did have his pride to protect after all, and most girls hadn't minded when he kissed _them_. Why should Evans be any different, he began to think foolishly.

"Well maybe you _should_ let me get to know you better." James spat out, before shutting his mouth abruptly. Okay, he was not intending on saying that … it was too ridiculous, he wasn't thinking that … he was originally thinking more along the lines of saying 'don't worry, unlike you, I have plenty of other people who are willing to kiss me'.

Now that he thought about it though, that wouldn't have been the right thing to say. Another slap would have accompanied it, and he was still recovering from the other slap.

Maybe this way was better … getting to know her … that had possibilities. At least then, he'd find out what she was really like, and he'd stop thinking about her all the time … It was strictly going to prove that he didn't like Evans and-

He cut himself off abruptly, realising that Evans was still staring at him in disbelief.

Lily finally regained her voice, though it was obvious that the comment had caught her off-guard. "Wh- what?"

"Let me get to know you," James repeated, attempting a somewhat passable smirk. At least she wasn't expecting that. "And you get to know me. I'm quite a likable guy," he added as an afterthought. Who knows, she might even agree.

"That is a resounding NO, Potter," retorted Lily, desperate to wipe that infuriating smirk off his face. It did, though it was replaced by a rather sinister looking smile.

"To what?" James continued to smile sweetly. "Me getting to know you, or you getting to know me?"

He knew that would confuse her, and she didn't disappoint.

"Me- You, Ooooh BOTH!" Lily finally shouted, her face flushing red in anger. "I don't want to get to know you, and I don't want you to get to know me, alright!"

"Why not?" James demanded.

"Because it would end up in murder that's why!" cried Lily, "What I know about you is plenty enough for me."

James comically puffed up his chest. "Oh so you're one of those girls who doesn't really need to know much about me to figure out what kind of a guy I am."

"Oh I'm one of those girls alright," Lily agreed, firmly. She was irritated by his show of arrogance, no matter how comical it looked. "I'm one of those girls who knows what an utter self-centred idiot-" She cut herself off as she glanced down at the hallway that led to the charms classroom, where she was supposed to be going. "You know what. I really don't want to discuss anything with you. I've got an assignment to query about, so if you'll excuse me."

She moved again to walk away, but James stepped in front of her. This time his face was dead serious … more serious than Lily had ever seen before. He even managed to look somewhat vulnerable at the same time.

"Evans – Lily, please," he pleaded softly, his voice cracking slightly as he hesitantly said her first name.

To say Lily was unnerved by this was an understatement. Potter just looked so vulnerable in front of her, and she almost felt like kicking herself that she was making him look like that. She almost scoffed out loud at that. Who cares what Potter looks like. Just because he looked like that, didn't mean he wasn't just putting on a show. Black could make the most adorable puppy expression, but most of the time it was just a put-on to get his own way.

"Please what?" Her voice came out just as soft, but she couldn't disguise a hint of annoyance.

"Can't we at least talk about – the - the kiss?" he replied quietly. "Let me … explain."

"No, it meant nothing … to me or to you, so just drop it," Lily answered shakily.

James dropped his arm wearily. "Fine, if that's the way you feel then-"

"-That's the way I feel," Lily interrupted firmly. She tapped her foot impatiently, and tried to ignore her wildly beating heart. "Is that all?"

Her voice came out a bit harsher than she had wanted to, and she saw Potter flinch back.

"Seems to be," replied James, gruffly, allowing her to step past him and then turning to walk off in the opposite direction.

Lily sighed again, closing her eyes briefly to take deep calming breaths. A few moments later, and with her head held high, she continued her path towards Professor Flitwick's office.

It wouldn't do to let anyone see how much she let Potter get to her.

* * *

"As much as I love winter," Bella was saying to Remus as they casually strolled along the footpath, "I'll be glad when it's finally over and I don't have to wear like twenty different layers of clothing each time I go out."

Laughing, Remus poked her side gently. He felt only clothing and he laughed even harder.

"What?" Bella demanded.

"I never knew you wore _that_ much," he replied back, smiling.

Bella huffed, poking him back. Remus knew her fingers would meet only one or two layers of clothing, and when they did, he chuckled.

"You're a guy," she complained. "You've probably got all that extra body hair to protect you."

Remus nodded absently, remembering the one time a month that he definitely had large amounts of hair to protect him from the cold. Truth be told, he'd rather the twenty layers of clothes.

Bella grew silent, not knowing Remus' inner conflict, and they both treaded carefully on the footpath.

"Its Potter that's done something to Lily, isn't it?" Bella blurted out unexpectedly, her eyes lifting to meet Remus'. He was startled momentarily, and before he could reply, she added, "Don't bother to lie. I saw your face earlier, and I could tell that you knew what was going on."

"I'm sorry, I-" Remus began, but Bella waved a dismissive hand.

"Don't be," she replied shortly. "I should have known Potter was involved in yet another one of Lily's problems."

"Don't be angry at Lily either," Remus said apologetically. "James only told me because we wormed it out of him. I'm sure Lily would have done the same if she hadn't have – uh – locked you out of the bathroom."

Bella sighed wistfully, before replying, "I'm not angry at either of you. How could I be? She's one of my best friends, and you're– you are just way too sweet."

Remus blushed as she said that and he averted his eyes to the ground. They continued to walk along the footpath without talk again.

"Why _does_ Potter always have to make Lily's life hell?" Bella continued on after a few minutes of silence had passed.

"He has his reasons," replied Remus, smiling. "Don't ask me what though, 'cause only he can work out what goes on in that warped mind of his."

"Oh bollocks," Bella dismissed. "Of course you know. You just don't want to tell me."

"Alright … fine," acknowledged Remus. "… I do have my suspicions to what it could be."

And well-based suspicions they were, he added to himself. He'd always known that James had a soft spot for Lily. Unlike his short-term girlfriends (most whom he hardly ever bothered to speak to again), Lily had always been a part of James' life.

Some guys just acted like total idiots when they were around the girls they liked. Although James didn't know it yet (Remus was leaning towards the fact that he did know, but wouldn't admit it, thanks to last night), he was one of those guys. It was his idea of impressing Lily that was by far the worst. Without knowing it, he would show off and annoy her whenever she would be in his sights. It was too bad really that they had gotten off on the wrong foot from the very beginning … all that wasted time, and opportunities.

Remus sighed briefly. He had suspected that Sirius realised how much James liked Lily as well. That little conversation last night had definitely been the icing on the cake … not to mention James kissing Lily. Usually, James was never ashamed about snogging girls. It was more of the opposite. Up until this year (courtesy of Sionell), him and Sirius would talk for hours about their latest little conquests. Remus of course never joined them, but he had still heard them chatting away.

Last night was different though. James honestly wanted some sort of guidance from all of them to what he should do with Lily … how he felt about her and so on. For once, Remus knew that what he had told James about winning Lily over had affected him deeply.

"Let's hope he listens this time," mumbled Remus, softly.

"What?"

Remus thought quickly as Bella nudged him with her elbow. "Uh – I said I think I smell a bit of lime," he said lamely, flushing as he realised how unbelievable that just sounded.

Bella laughed. "It's all right. I already know you're a creepy looking DADA student. Talking to yourself just adds to that image."

This time Remus joined in the laughter and they continued to walk beside the lake, thoughts of Lily and James being forced out of his head again. Bella seemed content on steering clear of that particular discussion now as well.

It wasn't until after catching sight of the Giant Squid emerging from the depths of the water that an idea crept up into Remus' head.

"I seem to recall you saying before that you hadn't had a shower this morning," he mentioned casually, not looking at Bella.

Bella scrunched up her nose. "Do you have to remind me?" she whined.

Laughing, Remus replied, "Sorry I was just thinking. It's a bit late to go kill Lily _and_ have your shower now, isn't it?" he asked.

Bella nodded, her face marred with confusion. "Yeah, I guess … but what's your point?"

"I uh - just happen to have the perfect solution."

"What?"

A twitch began to appear from the corner of Remus' mouth, as he desperately fought back a smile. He succeeded in finally closing his eyes and putting on a dramatic looking face. "In your not-too-distant future, I see a … lake … a very, very big lake," he droned on.

Though Bella was often slow at picking up things, she wasn't this time. "You wouldn't dare!" Bella screeched, eyeing Remus warily.

Remus held both of his hands up over his head in defence as he opened his eyes and grinned. "Hey I don't determine the future, I just go along with it."

"It's still winter!" she stuttered, backing away from Remus.

"I know," replied Remus. "The ice has melted though. I just saw the Giant Squid poking out one of his tentacles. He doesn't mind the water."

"What's good for the squid may not be good for me," Bella protested quickly.

Remus shook his head. "You don't know that for sure. Don't knock it til you've tried it."

"That's Lily's Muggle saying!" exclaimed Bella, laughing as she discreetly tried to inch further away from the lake.

Remus grabbed an arm without thought and pulled her back onto the footpath. "Consider it borrowed and don't change the subject," he said, flushing, as he gently released his grip on her arm.

Bella frowned, though it was ruined by a large grin. "I'm not," she said. "You know I can give as good as good as I get," she warned.

It took a while for Remus to answer because he was trying to hard not to laugh. Finally he replied, "Of that, I have no doubt," before lunging out to grab Bella around the waist.

She squealed in laughter, and thrashed about helplessly in his arms as he drew her closer. "Don't - you – dare – or – you're - coming – with – me!" She managed to gasp in between her laughter, whacking his chest with her fist with each syllable.

Sighing in surrender as though she had mortally wounded him, Remus released his hold on Bella, trying desperately not to notice their close proximity. Bella laughed again, as though to lighten the atmosphere … but she didn't move away. Remus' breath quickened as he looked deeply into her blue eyes.

Irrationally his mind flashed back to Lily and James, as his face became closer and closer to Bella's, and he found himself thinking that it was too bad Lily and James couldn't be like this too. Maybe he should give them a little push in the right direction.

He finally leaned in to kiss Bella, all ideas of throwing her in the lake (though he had never intended to), and James' predicament forgotten.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope there are still people around to read this story, seeing as I haven't updated in 21 days (as I was reminded by drops-of-winter's review). Oops 22 now, I think. I have to apologise again, and I'll try and have the next chapter out a lot sooner than before. Maybe by mid next week, after I finish doing a stupid oral presentation for uni. Anyhow, ciao!

Anyway, thanks to the following reviewers:

**Ivy Crane:**_ Thanks, I hope you like it, and sorry for the wait. Oh by the way, did u notice that you rhymed? Lol._

**Icemint:**_ lol, not quite, otherwise how could he be in Harry's time and bugging the hell out of him? Lol, anyway, thanks for reviewing and I hope you like this chapter._

**Legolas' girl:**_ lmao. Glad you got it all sorted out then. It wouldn't do for James to be disgusted at Lily would it? he he. And your right, its too bad Lily doesn't know yet that he's the perfect guy! _

**Kiwi36:**_ Yeah, in a way she did, lol. And I'm sorry but I'm afraid your going to have to wait a while longer for them to get together. Sorry ;)_

**Marauder Kel-Lily:**_ Thanks for reviewing again. I like winter too, but after spending the past two nights getting soaking wet, I'd say that a visit to Texas would be pretty nice. Lol. _

**Write-on3108:**_ lol, thanks for the energetic update. Hopefully all that stuff still applies, even though I haven't updated for ages._

**Zane Lupin:**_ As usual, you're right on the money on some things. I won't tell you exactly what, because after reading this chapter, you'll see. Actually now that I think about it, I've told you too much already. Lol. I do have to say that I've intended to match Remus and Bella up from the very beginning. I hinted it in chapter two and like you said, chapter 7 as well. I just put it in a bit sooner, due to some reviewers. Uh, and I did have other intentions with that part. As I said before, you'll find out this chapter. Thanks for reviewing again. As usual I love your long and very detailed reviews._

**tv-fan06:**_ Thank you, sorry once again that it took so long._

**DRUIDGIRL:**_ Lol, loved the review. It never occurred to me, that I was cranking out wonderful chapters. I always found things that I didn't like, or I could always pick out problems with them. I'm glad that you like them though. About the flamers. Uh, I don't really have any original advice, other than to ignore it. You shouldn't pay attention to it at all. If normal people don't like a story, they won't read it. I'm sure that's happened to you on many occasions with fics you've read. That doesn't mean you'll flame them, though does it? These flamers aren't normal people. They get some sort of a thrill by picking fights with authors, knowing that they'll either shatter the author's confidence, or initiate some sort of a conflict. Anyway, I've rambled on enough. I'll probably get flames for this, lol. Nah. Hopefully I made sense and don't let it get to you._

**pudge0matic:**_ I'm sorry, hope your not dead yet. Lol. I hope you like this chapter, and I'm glad you reviewed again._

**Lily106:**_ Sorry it took so long. Hope you like this chapter and thanks for reviewing._

**Drops-of-Winter:**_ I'm very, very, very, very sorry for taking so long. I hope this chapter is worth the wait._

**Conspiracy Theorem:**_ Thanks, sorry I took so long updating._

**TheStek:**_ he he, can't tell you everything, but you'll see this chapter. Thanks for reviewing again._

**Gizelle:**_ Lol, loved the review. You quoted a bit of my story, yay! Well not really, but anyway. I'm flattered you like my story, and I'll be putting in more stuff about Lily and James' friends soon. Thanks for reviewing, and I really hope you continue to read my story._

**Soleilmoon:**_ he he, can't tell you before u read the chapter. You are on the right track though. Thanks for reviewing._

**Stringbean:**_ I'm sorry about the cliffhanger and the wait. Thanks for reviewing again though :)_

**Moony391:**_ You'll see what James does to Snape and Lily in this chapter. Uh, I'd say Lily slapped him pretty hard. She was extremely pissed off at him after all, lol. Anyway, thanks for reviewing._

**Parselmouth majere:**_ Yes, I totally agree with you there. I love the denial phase between Lily and James. Thanks for reviewing again._

**Ruth3:**_ Sorry, couldn't help it, lol. It was begging me too end it like that. Oh and sorry for taking so long. Thanks for the birthday wishes too :) I love being 18 now!_

**ThiMonkey:**_ Thank you, and I will keep on writing. It just took me longer than usual to finish this chapter off. Hope you keep on reading and reviewing._

**Kevin luver:**_ lol, sorry bout that. Thanks for reviewing again though, and I hope you keep on reading now that I've finally got another chapter out._

**Coolcatjenny:**_ I hope you had fun on your trip and I'm glad you like what's been happening. Apart from poor James though, lol. Thanks for reviewing again._

**Cassie:**_ lol, I'll try, but I don't think it will be for a while. As for the Snape and James situation. You'll see this chapter. Sorry for the wait._

**BlueEyedWildmage:**_ lol, thanks for reviewing again, and don't worry, I do know the answer to that question. I think, lol. I won't be telling u just yet though. As my short stories teacher always tell my class, 'show, don't tell'. Lol. _

**Jedusor:**_ lol, thanks for the birthday song. Well part of it. lol. I did end up having a happy birthday. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, and I'll make sure to read your story very very soon. I've just been busy (again)._

**Whystical:**_ Lately, I've become a hopeless romantic too. Unfortunately, Lily and James' relationship is going to take a while longer to progress. Maybe not for Remus and Bella though … Lol, read this chapter to find out more. And thanks for reviewing._

**Lily-pad1:**_ Thanks, sorry for the extra long wait._

**Snapping_Puzzel:**_ Don't worry, I'm not stopping this fic. I just took an extremely long time to update. Thanks for reviewing._

**Silver: **_Thanks for reviewing. I hope you'll still read this, even though I took ages to update._

**KiKi15:**_ Thank you very much for the review. Hope this is soon enough! And I'm really happy that you like it. No matter how many people say it, I still can't believe it!_


	17. Times are changing

DESTINED TO BE 

Summary: Lovable isn't really a word that would describe the relationship between Lily Evans & James Potter …far from it actually. Since an incident in their 1st year, Lily detests even the very sight of 'Potter' … but could their 5th year change all this?

Forewords: 

I fear I must apologise again for the late update. I've found it increasingly hard to keep on updating, so from now on I can't make any promises at updating quickly. Lately I haven't been spending all that much time on the computer, so writing chapters for my two stories are becoming less frequent. Most likely, I'll keep on updating once every month (cringe), because I'm having to work harder at uni to be able to transfer into a course next year. 

Ok, I just thought I'd add that apart from the beginning of the chapter, I've decided to speed things up a bit in their sixth year, so I can draw nearer to the infamous fifth year incident involving Snivellus and the Marauders ^_^

I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about so I'll leave it there for now.

Thanks to the following reviewers:

**BlueEyedWildmage:**_ Yes, romance is brewing in a way. Thanks for reviewing again!_

**Tay:**_ Stubbornness ... yes, they are rather stubborn aren't they? Lol. Anyway, thanks for another review, and I hope you like this chapter as well._

**Kira6:**_ thank you!_

**Kevin luver:**_ he he, happiness won't be coming for a while I'm afraid. I'm really sorry about that. Thanks for reviewing again though!_

**DRUIDGIRL:**_ lol, no worries. Thanks for the birthday wishes. I'm sorry I'm late again with another chapter, but I must say I'm happy that you feel better about the flamer thing! Oh and yes, Lily did act kind of mean didn't she? You'll find out more on their feelings this chapter._

**ThiMonkey:**_ Thanks for the great review! Glad you like!_

**Whystical:**_ I'm glad you like my fic so far, apart from my little errors, which I know there are. However, I wouldn't like a beta at the moment, because I've actually just started this short stories course at uni, and this is proving to be good practice for writing. I'll be sure to check over things more from now on, and if there are any major errors, feel free to tell me. Thanks anyway!_

**Stringbean:**_ Thanks!_

**Coolcatjenny:**_ Yeah, that way would have been nice too. Anyway, thanks for reviewing again._

**Tinkerbellhp07:**_ Lol, thanks for the terrific review. I hope you review again and tell me what you think of this chapter!_

**Panda10s:**_ Thanks, good to hear that somebody referred my story ^_^ Yay. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, and keep on reading please!_

**Write-on3108:**_ I'm glad you still love my story. Thanks for reviewing again, and I agree. Remus is a sweetie, and you'll see a lot more of him in the chapters to come._

**Siri: **_Thanks for reviewing and I'm flattered that you like my story! Please keep on reading._

**Lily106:**_ Sorry, but here's the next chapter (finally)._

**Kiki15:**_ Thanks for the review. Yeah I know they're both really stubborn. Maybe they'll let up soon … hmmm. Or maybe one of them. You gotta keep reading and reviewing to find out._

**Drops-of-Winter:**_ Thanks for the review, and I'm sorry about another late update. It's getting real hard for me to update regularly, but I definitely won't be stopping this story anytime soon._

**Marauder Kel-Lily: **_Thanks for reviewing, and I think your mainly right. Writing them fight is always so much more fun than them making up. This chapter will be a bit different though._

**Carmenel:**_ No problem. I'm glad you like my story, so thank you for reading and reviewing!_

**Elven Dagger:**_ Thanks for reviewing!_

**Jedusor:**_ Yeah I know about Bella being the batty old lady, but I did start this story before OotP, so I'm trying to adjust my story to fit most of it, but unfortunately not all. Umm no I don't want a beta-reader, because I need to have the practice at editing my own stories if you know what I mean. I've just started to take a short stories writing course at uni, so I'll hopefully get better and check over everything I've done. Thanks for reviewing again._

**Moony391:**_ Thanks you'll find out the answer to a couple of questions this chapter. Sorry for the wait again._

**Lisa Meunier:**_ Thank you very much for your review, and I will definitely keep on reviewing._

**Tribal leader:**_ Thank you. I must say your review was definitely unique, lol. Nah I loved it. I hope you keep on reading, and I'll try to read your story as soon as possible. I've just been a bit busy lately._

And a special thank you to has to go to Zane Lupin, who I'm dedicating this chapter too. This is because of her emailed review of the last chapter (seeing as fanfiction wasn't working). I'll send you my reply, if that's alright, because I can't remember exactly what you said. Thanks for the lovely and looooong review.

Note to other reviewers. I love looong reviews. Lol. Nah just kidding. Just having my story reviewed is good enough.

Chapter Seventeen

~Times are changing~

"Pathetic … idiot … what was I thinking?"

Three walls and about ten stubbed toes later, James was still moaning over how he had acted with Lily. For what had to be the twentieth time, James kicked another nearby wall, mumbling under his breath.

"What on earth was I _thinking_?" James stopped for a moment, cursing as another one of his toes hit the wall at an uncomfortable angle. Unfortunately the pain didn't do much, other than to add another unpleasant feeling. Wasn't he feeling bad enough? Evans' words had strangely hurt him enough.

He silently asked himself the same question that he had spoken aloud. What was he thinking? Evans' shouldn't be worth all this trouble and pain … and torment. He shouldn't act like this in front of her … so idiotic and pitiful. He just couldn't help it, he found himself thinking. 

James shoulders slumped down in defeat as the obvious suddenly hit him. There were no excuses left. Remus and Sirius had been right. He did like Evans. What other explanation was there for all his behaviour? He never acted like this around other girls. 

_He did like Evans_.

Oh hell, what is the world coming too … him liking Evans. She'd never go for him now anyway. They couldn't stay within five feet with each other before starting a fight.

With a sigh, James decided to trudge on outside. There was no way he was going to bump into Evans now … not when he unwittingly realised the truth. It wasn't as though he wanted to like her though … she was annoying and such a know-it-all … just those little qualities alone should repel him. Why they didn't was a mystery. It's not as though she had all that much going for her. Sure there were her almond shaped emerald eyes, and her silky dark red hair, and that incredible figure …

Wait, did he just say incredible? Moving on from his feet, James stopped and knocked his head against the entrance door. Great, now he was even fantasising about her, he thought as he made his way outside and over to the lake. 

James stopped dead in his tracks as he caught sight of two very familiar people in a _very _compromising position. He crept closer behind a nearby bush, stifling his curses as he was poked by a sharp branch. Sure enough, it was his fellow Marauder Remus snogging Bella Figg. He'd finally gained enough courage to tell his long-time crush.

Groaning, he sat back into the bushes. Now it seemed everyone except him was happy with someone. Of course if he wanted to, he could get another girl, but again he found …

He stopped his train of thought to peek at Remus again. Sighing he continued on. 

… he just didn't want any girl anymore. He actually wanted Evans.

~*~

"Thanks Professor." Lily called as she exited the charms classroom. She shut the door with a small sigh, and leant against the door for a few moments.

Now that her conversation with Professor Flitwick had ended, her mind was unwillingly brought back to Potter. Lily thoughtfully chewed on her lip as she began to walk back to the common room. She hadn't meant for anything to come out the way it did, but for some reason all her confrontations with Potter always ended with her being the bad guy.

She had to admit though, that what Potter had said to her unnerved her. His little get to know each other comment, and what about that whole serious act. It wasn't as though he actually cared for her was it? She sure as hell didn't feel anything towards him … right?

"Of course not," Lily answered herself aloud. That's ridiculous, she finished in her head. James Potter and her would never be more than friends … and friends at that. They had trouble just managing to be friends.  

After passing a few sixth year hufflepuffs, whom she greeted courteously, she reached the common room and forced all thoughts of Potter out of her head. She just didn't have any time for that anymore. OWLs were coming up in a few months, and revision for them should have started before Christmas. Trying to figure out Potter and all his little thoughts would just have to wait if she wanted to excel in her schoolwork, Lily promised herself. From now on, school comes first. No more pranks, no more detentions, no more fights with Potter. She would behave herself.

Entering the common room with a lighter step, Lily greeted a few more people before dropping her books onto a table next to the windows. What better than to start studying now?

She couldn't help but sneak a look out the window. What she saw made her let out a startle gasp, which gained the attention of a few first years sitting nearby. Not caring about this though, she put a hand up to her mouth in astonishment. She could clearly see Bella and Remus kissing down by the lake.

She groaned and collapsed into her seat. "Am I the only one who hasn't found the right guy yet?"

~*~

In Potions the next day, Professor Resten asked for everyone to pair up.

Considering Bella and Remus had been practically attached to the hip since that morning, and Sirius and Sionell were chatting together, Lily figured that this was a perfect opportunity to patch things up with Snape, so she decided to sidle over and join him.

Lily wasn't surprised when she was greeted with a glare, but she felt quite hurt, and had to fight the urge to go and pair up with someone less moody. She inwardly sighed as he refused to move over. 

"What do you think you are doing?" snapped Snape, furiously.

This time Lily did sigh. "Severus, we both need a partner for this potion. Can you please move over?" she asked exasperatedly, holding up her potions textbook.

Severus wasn't given a chance to answer, because he was cut off by a voice beside Lily. 

"He doesn't need a partner like you, mudblood." the voice said.

Although Lily tensed slightly at this comment, she didn't bother to make any sort of response back to whoever had spoken. She only shifted her head slightly out of curiosity to see who had said it. It didn't come as a surprise to see Bellatrix smirking out of the corner of her eye.

Bellatrix Black had to be one of the most sadistic and foulest students at the school. Ever since Lily stepped onto the train in first year, Bellatrix hadn't passed up a chance to antagonise or taunt her. No doubt her and her little group of cronies would be the first to join the rising ranks of Voldemort, Lily thought.

Ignoring Bellatrix and her laughter, Lily leaned in towards Severus and gently pushed his equipment over so she could sit down. He allowed her to but didn't say anything. 

"Look, I'm sorry about this morning, alright?" she whispered softly.

Once again, he didn't say anything, and Lily felt her anger growing. "Severus, _why_ are you doing this?" she asked, not realising that she had raised her voice slightly.

"Isn't it obvious?" Bellatrix remarked, and this time Lily did turn around. "He doesn't want a filthy mudblod near him or _protecting_ him."

"Not everyone is as despicable as you Bellatrix." Lily snapped unexpectedly. Bellatrix even looked a bit stunned. "Severus may be a Slytherin, but he will never steep as low as you do. Right Severus?" 

Severus still remained quiet, but his back stiffened as he continued to work on his potion. Unfortunately this gave Bellatrix the opportunity to taunt her mercilessly.

"_Severus, _oh Severus, that's right isn't it?" Bellatrix mimicked squealing, her hand dramatically clutching her chest. "Tell me that I'm right."

The Slytherins' surrounding her laughed, and Lily felt herself to be outnumbered. She was the only Gryffindor amongst them, and the closest table to the Gryffindors were Sirius and Sionell, who were two tables across from her.

She abruptly stood up, intending to shift away but the Professor looked up in annoyance at the disturbance.

"Miss Evans will you sit down with your partner." He said snippily.

"_She_ doesn't have one Professor." Bellatrix piped up.

"I thought she was Mr Snape's?"

"He doesn't want to go with her."

Lily frowned. Why wasn't Severus speaking up for her? She thought that they were at least acquaintances. Surely the little incident that morning hadn't jeopardised all that?

"Well as much as he doesn't want to go with her," Professor Resten sneered, "he will just have to put up with her today."

The Slytherins' laughed again, though Bellatrix laughed the loudest as she leaned over her table to nudge Severus.

"Bad luck Sevvie, old buddy." She whispered, although it was loud enough for Lily to hear. Lily tried to tone out Bellatrix and everyone else as she set herself down at the table. She couldn't help but turn to Severus again, still holding onto some sort of hope that he would say something in her defence … but he ignored her, only continuing on with his work, and Lily bit her tongue to keep from letting out a sob.

"What's your problem Severus?" she hissed finally, grabbing a nearby knife to cut the asphodel roots. Severus ignored her, making the Slytherins' laugh even louder.

Lily continued on, almost pleading, "Have I done something wrong?"

He slowly turned towards her, after glancing shortly at Bellatrix. With slow deliberate words, he answered clearly, "I'm a Slytherin. I don't need _anyone's_ help. I don't need anyone's company … especially from a filthy Gryffindor." 

He looked so pointedly at Lily, that she closed her mouth abruptly. Apparently her helping him that morning _had_ jeopardised their so called friendship. Helplessly, she focused all her attention on the asphodel roots, which were already cut up into small slices.

"Nice to know the mudblood finally knows her own place." Bellatrix nodded in mock approval at the silence, making Lily cringe. Bellatrix continued on heartlessly, "Isn't that right mudblood?"

Lily didn't answer as she desperately tried to block out the harsh words, but her hands were trembling that much that her knife slipped and she ended up cutting her fingers. 

"Oooh keep that filthy blood away from me." Bellatrix cried out, jumping two steps away from her own table, as the blood began to drip onto the table.

Lily tried in vain to stop the bleeding with her other hand, but it soon became too slippery, and she began to feel faint at the sight of it. "Professor," she called meekly, "I've cut myself."

Professor Resten sighed impatiently, before saying, "Mr Snape, can you escort Miss Evans to the hospital wing?"

"Sorry sir, but it's more important that I finish this potion." Snape replied, roughly snatching the sliced roots from Lily's side of the table. "_Someone_ has to finish it."

Just as tears were springing to Lily's eyes at the callous words, Sirius unexpectedly stood up.

"I'll go." Sirius volunteered, coming over to Lily to carefully wrap a handkerchief around her cut fingers. She gave a watery smile in gratification. 

Professor Resten waved his hands. "Fine," he said, watching unsympathetically as Sirius led Lily to the door. "Let it be known though Miss Evans, that five points will be taken from Gryffindor for such clumsiness."

This was all too much to bear for Lily and as she exited the Potions classroom, tears began to stream down her face. Sirius looked absolutely gob smacked, and just patted her on the back.

"Hey, it's alright. It's only a cut." He said soothingly, and Lily finally managed to calm down. She sniffled softly.

"It's not the cut I-" Lily began.

"-I know," Sirius intervened meaningfully, making Lily stop in her tracks. He silently ushered her along to the hospital wing before finally saying, "Don't listen to any of them. They aren't worth it."

Lily went to speak and he added, "-especially Snivellus."

Lily fixed a disapproving glare onto Sirius and went to correct him. "_Severus_ has never been like that … like them. He was just upset at – something that happened yesterday morning."

"I know you think he's some sort of saint Slytherin or whatever. Merlin knows James has told me enough times." Sirius replied calmly, as they reached the hospital wing. "But when it comes down to it, he's no more better than the rest of them. He will _never_ defend you the way you do to him. He's just not like that. It's him before anyone else. He just doesn't _care_."

When Sirius put it like that, Lily almost believed him. As she sat herself down onto a nearby bed, she hardly noticed when Sirius left her to find Madam Pomfrey. She just couldn't help thinking that Severus had been given plenty of chances to defend her. If he truly believed that the rest of the Slytherins' were wrong about her, then why didn't he try and help her … she wouldn't have cared if he helped her like she had helped him. It was just instinct. She couldn't watch anyone suffer and she thought he was different.

"You know if I were you, I'd be happy at all the lessons I'm going to miss." Sirius said, startling Lily out of her thoughts as he walked back over to her with Madame Pomfrey.

"Well Mr Black, unlike you, Miss Evans has a legitimate excuse for being here." Madame Pomfrey said primly, "Something which you no longer have."

Sirius grinned. "I'm here for moral sup-"

Lily laughed as Madame Pomfrey shooed him out of the hospital wing with her wand. She then turned to Lily in a business-like manner.

"Now let's have a look at your cut Miss Evans …"

~*~

After the rather eventful events during and after the Christmas holidays, the next several weeks seemed to be incomparably dull. The only thing left in the mind of fifth year students was the ever-looming preparation for their upcoming OWLs exams. There were only two and a bit months until the dreaded exams, and as such, Lily and James found they had no time for mulling over their existent (or strictly non-existent in Lily's case) feelings towards one another.

The Marauders of course, (bar one Remus J. Lupin and one extremely panic-stricken Peter Pettigrew) were unphased by the continuously increasing amount of work. James and Sirius seemed to take it all in stride, still managing to balance their homework equally amongst Quidditch and pranks. A particularly fiery haired Severus Snape emerging at breakfast one morning would be one such example of their never-ceasing pranks.

The Gryffindor girls on the other hand, were faring in extremely different circumstances. Lily Evans was the perfect example of working to the bone. It was unusual to find Lily in the common room without a book or chart or scroll permanently attached to her nose. She was relentless with revising, and spent practically every waking minute stuck into assignments or prefect duties. 

Sionell was often seen studying in the company of Lily, but also spent a considerably amount of time relaxing with Sirius, who still remained to be her boyfriend.  

Arabella maintained her usual nonchalance towards her work, and concentrated more on dragging away Lily, Sionell and her new boyfriend Remus Lupin from their studies. She rarely succeeded, and more often than not was forced into joining their study group.

~*~

It was one of these afternoons on a lovely March day that most Gryffindors were once again found studying.

James was found absently writing a transfiguration essay that was due the next day. Absently because he was too busy watching some second years playing down by the lake. 

He sighed mournfully, catching Sirius's eye who was sitting beside him. Sirius gave a grin in return and dropped his quill.

"I'd say I'm up for a break." He announced, leaning back from his chair. "How bout the rest of you?"

"Yep," James nodded, grinning wryly at his attempted essay, which had more scribbles of snitches than it did words. Actually … James messily folded it up and stuffed it into his backpack. It wouldn't do to let anyone see that he had written JP 4 LE in each and every one of those snitches. He'd done so well these past few weeks to keep it from everyone … especially Evans. Not to mention himself … in vain he might add. He'd even been keeping his distance from her lately, in the hopes that his feelings for her would just disappear … but no matter how many times he went back in denial (which he did a lot), all he had to do was catch a glimpse of her in class or walking down the hallway, and he'd be right back to the start. Damn Evans, he cursed inwardly. She always got to him so much. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was doing all this on purpose.

James turned to the others (deliberately halting his thought of Evans), and promised himself that he'd just finish the essay later that night. Remus and Peter were still furiously writing and hadn't noticed either Sirius or James. "Guuuys." He said loudly.

They both looked up, Peter's eyes frantically meeting James'. "Is it already time for us to hand up the essays?" he babbled in a panic. "I haven't finished. I've still got nine inches to go."

Sirius held up a hand in amusement. "One, it isn't tomorrow yet." He said grinning, "and two, all I said was it's time for a break."

Peter looked scandalised. "A break?" he squeaked. "How can I have a break? I've still – got that charms essay, then there's that essay due for herbology-"

"-Not to mention the required reading we need for DADA." Remus put in disapprovingly, waving their textbook in front of James' face.

"Leave transfiguration for tonight." James advised, pulling Peter's essay out of his hands, "Charms isn't due for another week, Sirius and I can help you with the herbology 'cause we already did it in detention – uh-" He turned to Sirius for help.

Sirius nodded and added knowingly, "-and don't bother with the reading Wormtail. We know Remus' already done it and can recite it back to us before the lesson starts. It's easy stuff anyway."

Peter madly shook his head and managed to grab his essay back from James. "I can't … I need to finish. It's alright for you, because you can do it with the snap of your fingers … I'm so behind." He stuttered.

Remus shot a glare at Sirius and James. "I'm staying too. There's loads of work we should be working on." He said firmly.

Sirius shrugged. "We'll do it later."

"Yeah, after we deal with some unsuspecting students." James added, his gaze shifting back to the students down by the lake. He nudged Sirius to look, and they both grinned.

"If anybody asks-" they began,

"Your up in the dorm room." Remus and Peter finished wearily.

Sirius flashed them a grin, "Rightio Prongs my boy. I dare say we have some students to terrorise?"

"Just let me get my invisibility cloak." replied James, already heading for the stairs.

In no time they were headed for the portrait. On the way out, James and Sirius bumped into Lily and Sionell, who were just returning back from the library.

Sionell tartly put her hands on her hips, "And where might you two be going?" she demanded, nudging Lily whose view was obstructed by a pile of books.

"Well," Sirius began mischievously, "seeing as I haven't been able to spend any time with my gorgeous girlfriend-"

Sionell snorted, and Lily stifled back a laugh as she adjusted the books so that Sirius and James were now in view.

"Girlfriend?" Sionell repeated doubtfully. "If we're still going out, why did I see you off with that Hufflepuff girl in fourth year?"

"Tutoring." Sirius replied promptly.

"In what?" demanded Sionell, though she was smiling. 

Lily had to fight the urge to roll her eyes as she listened to the two's bickering. This was how Sionell and Sirius' so called relationship had been going since before Christmas. Apart from an occasional snog, the two wouldn't act any differently around each other.

'It's a strictly casual agreement.' Sionell had told Lily one night. 'We're going out, but only when we feel like it … It fits us perfectly."

It still hadn't stopped their little fights though. They seemed to find it amusing to bring up any suspicious incidents with people, because it would always end up in a major snogging session. Lily shook her head wryly, and lost balance of the tower of books that she was carrying. Just as the top two books went to topple over, Potter reached out and snatched them both up.

"Thanks," Lily said hesitantly.

Smiling cockily, Potter carefully placed them back to the top of her pile. "No problem," he replied then added proudly. "I am a seeker after all. Catching things is my speciality." 

Lily noticed that he avoided her eyes when he said that, and she found she couldn't say anything except to nod briefly. Sirius must have noticed the uncomfortable silence, so he leaned forward to give Sionell a quick kiss on the lips. "As much as we'd love to chat and all," he said, taking a few eager steps back, "We're on a bit of a mission. So seeya." James nodded his goodbye, and quickly followed Sirius.

"Bye." Sionell called, watching as Sirius and James disappeared down the hallway. She turned back to Lily, "That was the most civilised conversation that you've had with Potter for a while."

"Hmm." Lily nodded, realising that it was also the longest conversation they had had since she had caught him hexing Snape. "Anyway, let's get going." Lily said, returning back to the present. "We've still got to study all those defence spells."

"Right," Sionell nodded, grabbing a few of Lily's books before mumbling the password and walking into the common room. They immediately went to join Remus and Peter over by the window. After the usual mumbled greetings, Lily and Sionell set to their own work.

After about half an hour passed, Lily shot up her head at the sound of screaming outside. She couldn't help noticing that Remus was looking guilty and she turned to Sionell.

"Did that boyfriend of yours and his sidekick tell you where they were going?" she asked suspiciously, snapping her book shut and standing up.

"No, he never bothers to tell me." Sionell replied, grinning. "Probably because he knows that you'd get anything incriminating out of me if he did."

"Where are they?" Lily asked Remus and Peter, who suddenly seemed glued to their books. Sionell poked Peter who squeaked.

"What marauding are they up to now?" Sionell demanded, poking Peter again.

"We were told to say they were up in their dormitories." Remus replied innocently, casually looking up from his books.

Sionell snorted, "Yeah, that explains why we saw them outside the common room before."

"I bet they're out somewhere terrorising poor students." Lily frowned disapprovingly, moving to look out the window. She gave an exasperated sigh and nodded in confirmation as she turned back to the others. A small grin tugged at the corners of her mouth and another scream could be heard outside. "Yep, why am I not surprised?"

~*~

"Five ought to do it Prongs, don't you think?" Sirius asked mischievously as he crouched beside James behind a bush. After that little uncomfortable encounter with Evans, James and Sirius had occupied themselves with carefully spying on the same group of students they had seen lounging around by the lake. James and Sirius had both taken note of how every student kept a safe distance away from the lake to keep from getting wet by the Giant Squid, and had come up with an (immature) idea.

James screwed up his nose. "Nah," he refused, "Make it six. I've always liked even numbers better."

Sirius nodded and pulled out a packet of something suspicious. He opened it up and passed James a couple of ordinary looking balloons. The both of them then tapped their wands onto the balloons so they filled up with water.

But they weren't finished yet. With two casual incantations, "Invisiblo,", then "Wingardium Leviosa,"  the balloons turned invisible and were levitated above the students heads.

In unison, James and Sirius looked at each other, and released the spells. They popped up immediately, to watch in satisfaction as the students were suddenly drenched in invisible water.

In between his hysterical laughter, James grabbed the packet from Sirius' hands.

"Make that ten."

~*~

A/N: Okay, I have to admit that I had only a slight clue as to what the English classify as their holidays and whatnot. As I live in Australia, my holidays are somewhat different (actually extremely different), so if anyone could _please_ help me out with anything regarding the holiday times and such, it would be much appreciated, because then I can fix this chapter up a bit more.

Yes and I know this chapter is going off track a bit, but I thought I would lighten up things, before things start to get real serious. I hope this chapter is alright for all of you, but I'm not entirely happy with this chapter. I thought maybe James' feelings for Lily were a bit rushed. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on that so please review.


	18. A picture is worth a thousand words

Diametrically Opposed 

**Summary:** Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter & up until fifth year James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy … & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind …

**Forewords:**

Hey all, sorry for the late update again! Firstly, I just thought I'd say that I changed the summary again. What do you all think about it?

Ok well moving on. I'm telling you right now that this chapter is going to answer a lot of questions about James's feelings for Lily. It's going to be really important and it took me ages to become absolutely perfect (in my eyes anyway). Actually not completely perfect. I'll be going back over it afterwards, but it's late and I can't be bothered now.

I've also been thinking of a new title for my story, because I realised that 'Destined to be' doesn't really go with the flow of the story. So far the best title I've come up with is:

'Diametrically Opposed'

Lame, yes? No? Please feel free to tell me what you think. I really can't think of anything else.

As usual, thanks to the following reviewers:

**Wise man Domingo:**_ Wow, thanks for the lovely review. Glad you think it isn't rushed!_

**Ljstagflower4e(Jctigerwolf4e:**_ Lol, thanks for thinking it wasn't rushed too! I hope you keep on reading!_

**BlueEyedWildmage:**_ I hope you haven't been counting how long since I updated, because I have a feeling this time was worse than the last! Sorry bout that, but I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

**Conspiracy Theorem:**_ Thanks for reviewing!_

**Angelic Teen:**_ Oh thank you very much, and I'll try to read your story. So many people tell me to read their stories, but I hardly ever get the chance!!_

**Ruth3:**_ Thanks for another great review! I'm glad you're luving it! And so you think Oz is cool, huh? Well don't worry I think it is too._

**Drops-of-Winter:**_ Thanks for another review, and sorry for another late update. Hope you're still around to read this chapter. I have a feeling I'm making a lot of people lose interest in this story because I'm taking to long to update._

**Whystical:**_ Thanks for reviewing, and the info on holidays. Here in Australia my summer holidays range from the end of November until Feb/March, so it's way different over here from the UK and everywhere else. And I'm sorry about calling Bellatrix 'Bella' a couple of times. Don't know what I was thinking when I was writing it! Glad you liked that bit though._

**Wind Whisperer:**_ Hmm, yeah I am a bit slow in getting them together aren't I? Lol. Still a while to go yet too. He he. Anyway, thanks for reviewing! _

**Write-on3108:**_ I'm really sorry about your bad day (which was like a month ago now, lol), but I was really happy that I made the day slightly better! Hope this chapter brightens up your day too!_

**Tay: **_NY is cool too! Never been to America before! Thanks for reviewing again!_

**DRUIDGIRL:** _lol, I was wondering if anyone was going to mention it, because actually over here in Australia that's how we spell those words. Instead of 'z' s we use 's'. It's also the same with other words, such as 'organise' and 'pressurise', etc, etc. So sorry about that, but I didn't classify them as mistakes. Thanks for telling me anyway!_

**HPDisorder:**_ Thanks for the great review! I'm really glad you think the feelings aren't rushed. Oh and also, don't worry I will be going into more depth on Lily's feelings, just not yet, because at the moment it's James that is beginning to like her. She doesn't like him yet. Of course she will later though. That's a given fact, lol._

**ThiMonkey:**_ lol, yes pranks are definitely good! There will be more, and thanks for reviewing!_

**PhOeNiXReBiRtH:**_ lol, I didn't think my story would take hours to read, but I'm glad you enjoyed reading it! And of course, thanks for reviewing._

**Lily106:**_ Yeah that's what I pretty much thought too. Lol. Thanks for reviewing again._

**Jedusor:** _Thanks for your review, I wasn't offended or anything. In fact I really appreciated your input on everything. What I found really interesting about your review though, is the fact that what you suggested is what I had planned for this chapter, lol. I also think that it is important for James to realise that he likes Lily, but also why, and to come to terms with it. So don't worry I won't ignore you, and hopefully you'll like this chapter :)  _

Oh and I get you with the whole beta-reader. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be offensive or anything. I understand that it's not a bad thing, but its just I'd still like to be able to learn how to do these things by habit, and not have to depend on someone else to fix all my errors all the time. Also I really did appreciate your offer. I mean actually having someone that would want to do it is obviously a compliment for me (in my opinion), because it means that person likes reading it, he he. Well I hope anyway. Ok well that's it for my long response. Hope you keep on reading, and giving me your honest (and long) opinion.****

**Carmenel: **_Great, thanks for another review!_

**Hufflepuff1234:**_ Sorry, I hope you're still around to read my late update!_

**OutOfMyMind:**_ Yes, they are the perfect couple!! Thanks for reviewing!_

**Moony391:**_ Great, I'm glad you feel the feelings aren't rushed either. And don't worry, no more James slapping! Once is definitely enough._

**Zane Lupin:** _Oh you can definitely flatter more … in fact keep going, lol. Nah don't, because I don't think it's possible for my blush to reach new heights! Ok let's see. What to say first. Well, firstly, thanks for the terrific length once again, and I'm relieved that it actually submitted this time, lol. _

_Also, I'm really glad you liked this chapter, as yes it did play a transitional part in my story, taking some time-out. And I just had to put Bellatrix in there with Sirius. Him explaining to Lily about them makes it all the more meaningful don't ya think? Oh, and you place way too much high expectations on me! I'm not as clever as you think, because when I first put the chapter up, I actually did accidentally put Bella instead of Bellatrix once! :O I know, stupid me!! Lol. _

_I also have to say that I think you are the only one who has noticed the progression of James' feelings from other chapters before the last. I have always hinted some sort of feelings towards her like you have noticed. It's just now he's finally realised it! _

_In answer to your question (you always keep me on the tips of my toes with your reviews), I know I didn't make it clear which incident Bellatrix was talking about. I just made it so it was possible she could have known about either, because … well Slytherin's are mostly sneaky, conniving and secretive people, so it's basically a guessing game with them to what they know! I personally thought she might have found out about the hallway, maybe through rumours … which might explain Snape's increasingly unpleasant behaviour towards her._

_Well that's my response. It's rather incoherent actually, now that I skim over it, but it's rather late, and I'm just about to close my eyes actually. Lol. Thanks for reviewing again. I thought I'd do a bit of role reversal here and say you're the best reviewer I've ever had. You've reviewed since the beginning and I'm very much honoured!! Thank you!! _

**LVS: **_Thank you, I hope you keep on reading! _

**Elven Dagger:**_ lol, I think you'll have to read this chapter to see James' feelings but he might not be far off from doing that. Thanks for reviewing!_

**Marauder by Moonlight:**_ Thank you for the lovely review! I'm glad that you took time to review, because like many I usually read a story but don't bother to tell the author what I think about it! So I'm glad you did! I'm also happy that you liked the little snitch scene as well as Snape. He is a very misunderstood guy!_

**Fireseeker:**_ Feel free to add more if you like. I certainly don't mind. Lol, nah thanks for the review!_

**Crystaldreams611:**_ Yay, a fellow Aussie. Cool. I don't think I've had a reviewer that is also from Aussie, so I'm flattered! If you don't mind me asking, where in Australia do you live? I live in SA! Umm anyway, thanks for reviewing. Oh and yes I am very busy. I have exams coming up soon, so I'll be fully into that for the next month!!_

Chapter Eighteen

~A picture is worth a thousand words~

A week passed after the prank James and Sirius pulled on the poor students by the lake occurred. The prank that had resulted in a week-long detention because their Invisibility Cloak, which had accidentally snagged on the bush they were standing behind, exposed themselves to not only the pissed off and soaking wet students, but also an equally pissed Professor McGonagall.

The full-moon had also come and gone during that week and as usual, the three animagi Marauders had joined up with their fourth member in the Shrieking Shack. Nothing else particularly extraordinary happened, other than an added detention for Sirius and James the next day, because they had skipped their detention.

It was one quiet Sunday night after James and Sirius's detentions finally ended that they snuck over to the kitchen for some celebration food; conveniently forgetting that they had only just come from dinner. 

As they carried their mounds of food back to the common room, James and Sirius began to chat idly.

"So Prongs." said Sirius, clearing his throat meaningfully. "Why haven't you gone out with anyone these past few weeks?"

James stiffened, and he almost dropped his share of the food. "I – uh dunno." he lied, trying to adopt a casual tone. "No girls have caught my eye recently."

"Hmm," replied Sirius. "Normally I'd be asking what the hell is wrong with you, but now I guess I'm no better. Ever since I've started going out with Nell, I haven't been as _eager_ to go out with any other girls."

Not answering, James continued to walk on. Talking about relationships weren't his favourite topic conversation as of late. Thankfully they stopped in front of the portrait soon after, but before they entered the portrait Sirius turned to James. "I'm not as bad as Remus though. No girls' catch his eye except his Bella, hey?"

James forced a laugh, nodding and after quickly saying the password, ("giant squid"), he climbed in. 

As soon as he entered he stopped, instantly catching sight of Lily studying over by the fireplace.

"Ooof." James was suddenly pitched forward and he dropped one of the apple pies he was holding. It fell onto the ground with a squelch and spread across the carpet to create a disgusting mess. He turned around to look accusingly at Sirius.

"What was that for?" he demanded.

Sirius snorted. "Wasn't my fault." he retorted. "You stopped so suddenly that I went careening into you."

"Oh." James felt embarrassed and a heated blush began to rise up on his cheeks.

Their commotion drew Evans' attention for a moment, and she looked up, obviously disturbed by them. James flashed an apologetic grin in her direction whilst picking up and cleaning the fallen apple pie. 

Though Evans only briefly nodded back to him before going back to her work, James' stomach did a major flop. He never knew how endearing she was, even with a tower of books partially covering her face.

Hearing Sirius make a sound under his breath, James hastily averted his eyes and after gathering up all the mess, James and Sirius walked alongside each other. When they reached the top of the staircase, James stopped and looked back over his shoulder at Evans.

"How can she just keep on going like that?" he asked, half admirably, half exasperatedly.

"Like what?" asked Sirius, finishing off a chocolate éclair and licking the cream off his fingers. 

"I mean the only time I see her is with a mountain of books!" exclaimed James. "Every day I see her reading piles of books, and studying like crazy." He reluctantly moved off from the staircase and followed Sirius back to the dorm. "It's not as though she needs to. She already beats me in practically everything" he grumbled.

"You know Prongs," said Sirius, reaching their dorm. James looked at him. "I'd say you think about Evans _way_ too much, so if you want me to say something to that or just simply go in and eat, I'd suggest you shut up and open the door."

James shut up and opened the door.

~*~

A few more weeks passed at Hogwarts, and James and Lily respectively continued to avoid each other at most costs; Lily for the sake of peace at Hogwarts, James simply for the sake of controlling his urge to snog her senseless, not that he would outright admit it though. As he would keep telling himself, there was no rational reason for liking her, so he should just ignore it.

James _thought _there was no rational reason because he still found Evans to be immensely confusing. It was a total mystery to him. Maybe it was because she was the only girl who openly disagreed (or hated would be a better word) him … maybe it was because she was only person smarter than him … maybe it was because she was the best-looking – he cut the thought off. Who knew what it really was? James sure didn't. 

On more than one occasion James would mull on these thoughts, and remember back to all the conversations he had had with Remus over her … and still had. Now that he analysed those conversations (which he hardly ever did until then), it was obvious that Remus had always seemed to know that he had a crush on Evans. How Remus knew about all of it … now that was another mystery, one that James was determined to find out. So far, it was the only way that might help explain his stirring feelings for the infuriating Gryffindor girl.

So that's what he did. After an extremely boring lesson of listening to Binns' drone on about another goblin rebellion, James wordlessly dragged Remus aside, motioning for Sirius and Peter to continue onto lunch.

"Remus, I need to talk to you bout something." He said in a low tone, after making sure that there was no one else in the vicinity.

"Ok." replied Remus, who was looking at him with something akin to suspicion.

James leant back against a wall, and brushed a frustrated hand through his hair. "Well," he began finally, taking a deep breath and having no idea where to start. "What – I mean how did y-you or what- _what_ gave you the idea that- that IlikedEvans?" he finished off hurriedly, knowing that he sounded incredibly stupid.

Remus's eyes grew wide in understanding. "There were plenty of things." he said vaguely, biting his lip and then looking away.

"Like?"

Remus grinned wryly. "Things that you should really be figuring out for yourself Prongs." He went to move away but James impulsively stepped into his path.

"Moony," he moaned, pleading shamelessly. "Just tell me something … anything. _Please!_"

Reluctantly Remus gave in, though James suspected it was only an act. "Alright," sighed Remus. "Let me ask you this. When you look at her or think about her, what immediately comes to your head?"

"How the hell I could like her!" James blurted out, then inadvertently flushed. He inwardly cursed himself for the slip of tongue. He'd bloody let the cat out of the bag on that one!

Remus chuckled, making James flush even harder. "Alright, at least you're admitting that you like her now." he said.

Still flushing, James could only nod grudgingly. Inwardly though, he was screaming obscenities at himself.

"Then the hardest part is over Prongs." Remus continued on, his eyes twinkling as though he'd just won a million galleons. "Now, I will do one thing to help you. I'll give you some advice. First, I want you to watch her … _not_ stalk her," Remus directed a meaningful glare at James who shrugged meekly.

"I only did it once," replied James defensively, then added mumbling accusingly, "Don't know how you found out bout that though … unless you've been stalking me."

"Yeah right Prongs." Remus snorted. "I'd have all that time to stalk you in between my studying and-"

"Snogging Bella?" suggested James, a knowing smirk appearing. He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Now it was Remus's turn to flush considerably. "You know if you weren't such a prat about things, I'm sure you'd be able to spend time with Lily, like I do with Bella." he mumbled bluntly.

James groaned. "_Remus!" _He didn't want to hear that!

"Alright, alright. Not discreet enough." Remus apologised, though a grin was obviously threatening to spread over his face. "_Anyway_, like I was saying, I want you to watch her … anytime, anyplace – _except_ for well – you know …" Remus cleared his throat uncomfortably. "but just really watch her."

"Why?"

"Because one of these days when you look at her, you'll realise not how you could like her … but how could you _not_?"

As James stood frozen in the hallway, unblinking, Remus stepped sideways and gave James's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Just think about what I said." he said softly, walking away to the Great Hall for lunch.

~*~

For the next two weeks, that's exactly what James did. Instead of avoiding her presence, James would discreetly watch her. In lessons, in the common room, at dinner, in the prefect's bathroom – well … no, that last one was really only a dream.

It got to the point where James watched Evans constantly. His timetable consisted of lessons … watching Evans … studying … watching Evans … pranking students … watching Evans … playing Quidditch … watching Evans and so on.

But so far, no 'event' or 'moment' had come to James's mind, where he had a change of heart in the whole situation. The confusing feelings remained, that knot of whatever it was remained in his stomach, everything bloody remained! He still liked her, but he couldn't figure out why, and he wasn't going to _willingly_ admit that to anybody. There was nothing special about her. Nothing that made her stand out from any other girl he had dated before … 

The only thing he _had_ gotten out of watching Evans was memorising practically every one of her damn mannerisms; like when she'd be in class, and how she'd listen to every word the professor was saying, and her quill would always unknowingly rest aside her right cheek … and then when she was with her friends at lunch or something; how her face would light up when one of friends told a joke, how her eyes would flash a bright green, almost as though they were able to fill the room with an earthly green glow.

Still … nothing happened.

And it was driving him nuts. Probably his friends too. Sirius and Peter had been watching him a lot lately, probably thinking he was losing it. Remus, well that stupid prat looked to be having a jolly good time watching James suffer. Since that day, he hadn't added anymore advice, so James still stubbornly stuck to his original plan.

He'd keep on watching Evans, until he found out why he had to like _her _of all people! Then maybe he could think of something else for once!

~*~

In Transfiguration, Arabella leaned over to poke Lily with her quill, who turned her head to inquisitively look around.

"He's watching you again." hissed Bella, jerking her head behind her. Lily slowly shifted her gaze to look around, and immediately caught Potter's intense look directed right at her. Almost guiltily, Potter looked down at his work, and Lily frowned thoughtfully as she returned back to watching Professor McGonagall.

"See," Bella whispered triumphantly. 

As much as Lily hated to admit it, Bella was right about Potter watching her. She'd caught him looking at her more than twice in the recent weeks, and it was becoming unnerving to say the least.

"He's probably just planning a prank," replied Lily absently, jotting down a few notes as she half-listened to Professor McGonagall drone on. Even _she_ had her limits as to what she could take in one day.

"I'm going to transfigure my quill into a bludger in a minute and aim it straight for Potter if he doesn't tear his eyes away from you." Bella growled through gritted teeth, watching Potter at the edge of her vision.

That caught Lily's attention. "Bella, no!" she gasped, horrified, but then suddenly chuckled at the absurd statement. "What makes you think that you could do that anyway, Bella? You've hardly progressed from transfiguring needles back in first year."

"I'll just focus on throwing a needle at him then, shall I?" retorted Bella, who snorted loudly before starting to giggle. Lily clapped a hand over her own mouth to try and control her uncontrollable laughter.

"Is there a problem Miss Evans?" Professor McGonagall queried loudly, making everybody turn around to look at Lily. She shook her head shamefully, the giggling fit receding as she once again noticed that Potter was staring at her. She stared back defiantly until he turned away from her, his cheeks reddening slightly.

What was the matter with him?

~*~

A few days closer to the exams, and Lily was again found studying relentlessly in the common room; this time like many, alone. As it was now the weekend, Sionell and Bella had taken the opportunity to get revenge on a few sixth year Ravenclaw girls, who had tried to seduce Remus and Sirius.

'No Ravenclaw hussy is getting to my Remus,' Bella had seethed furiously, after hearing from Remus what had happened the day before.  

Lily chuckled at the thought of what Bella and Sionell had planned for the two girls. She didn't actually know exactly what that would contain, as she had told them that if she knew nothing, they couldn't lose points from her. Still, she found the whole situation quite amusing … and so annoyingly sweet. _She _had no guy to worry about like that.

Her mood changed to melancholy alarmingly fast, and she sighed, returning back to her reading.

"Lily?" a voice enquired hopefully. Lily looked up from the book she was reading to see the Head Girl standing by the portrait, looking rather frazzled.

"Yes," Lily replied, leaning forward in her chair so that Lisa could see her properly. "I'm here, Lisa."

Lisa strode over to Lily's chair and sighed in obvious relief. "Oh Lily, I am so glad I found you here." she said quickly.

"What's wrong?" asked Lily worriedly.

"It's nothing drastic," admitted Lisa, "but I was supposed to inspect the Gryffindor 5th year boy dorms today … and then I found that Michael had organised a meeting in like-" she stopped to look at her watch and gasped, "Five minutes. Oh no I'm going to be late."

Smiling slightly, Lily closed her book. "I can inspect their dorm for you Lisa," she suggested. "It's no trouble really."

Lisa looked absolutely exhausted, but smiled nonetheless. "That would be great Lily … thank you."

And before Lily could reply, Lisa had gone off like a shot; the portrait already closing behind her. Smiling again, Lily shifted her gaze over to the staircase, where what she had suggested suddenly hit her in dismay.

She cursed under her breath, knowing what this would entail. She would have to go upstairs into the boys dorm no less … and force those prats to let her inspect the dorm.

"Merlin knows what things they have hidden up there." Lily mumbled to herself as she stood up. Placing her books in a neat corner of the couch, she braced herself for the inevitable wars she'd be having with those fifth year Gryffindor boys.

Slowly, she made her way up the boys' staircase, pausing momentarily as a group of third year boys eyed her suspiciously on their way down.

"Prefect business," she stated primly, making them nod and increase their speed down the stairs.

Lily couldn't stifle the sudden chuckle as she continued her way up the stairs. All the students were terrified of her taking points away from them after the Ball and Josh's hexing … even though she wasn't half as bad as the Ravenclaw or (here Lily shuddered) Slytherin prefects. 

Walking down the hallway, she finally came to the fifth year boy dorms, where someone (most likely Sirius) had carved their names into the door. She raised an arm to knock tentatively at the door, and waited nervously as she heard rustlings inside the room.

"Who is it?" someone called out eventually.

Lily sighed inwardly. "Lily Evans." She heard someone whispering her name to someone else and this time she did sigh out loud. "I'm here on prefect business." she decided to add.

The door opened slightly, and Sirius's head popped out the door.

"Sorry, we're a bit busy right now." He said, looking a bit uncomfortable. "Can you steal James later on?"

Frowning, Lily put a hand of restraint on the door. "I'm not looking for Potter," she replied tersely. "I'm here on the Head Girl's orders to inspect your dorm."

The door swung open a bit more and Potter emerged, looking furious. Lily remained put, glaring up at Potter. She felt quite uncomfortable though, remembering how much time he'd spend looking at her recently.

"Inspect our dorms?" said James, indignantly.

"Yes, you do remember that prefect meeting we had after Christmas don't you?"

"Of course." replied James, arrogantly.

"But why you?" demanded Sirius.

"I was asked by Lisa to fill in for her, because she had a meeting on at the same time as the planned _surprise _inspection." replied Lily, not removing her hand from the door. "Now let me in, before I call for Professor McGonagall."

Both Sirius and James let out a string of curses, but the door opened up to let Lily in. Almost immediately, a pile of Zonko's prank items came into her view, but she was more interested in something hanging on a post by the window-sill … something that was _rendering _half of the post invisible. It made her gasp, and the two boys groaned, thinking they were busted.

"So it was an Invisibility Cloak?" she asked breathily, pointing over to a silvery and very recognisable cloak. Funnily enough, the events of her disastrous birthday and afterwards had been kind of blurry in her mind, so she had forgotten that on her way back to her dorms, she had been carted under an Invisibility Cloak … until then, that is. Her heart started to pound faster in excitement. A real Invisibility Cloak …

"I can't believe it didn't click until now that you had an _Invisibility Cloak_."

James and Sirius looked at her in puzzlement. They hadn't expected Evans to be excited over the Invisibility Cloak. It was what was lying on the ground that they were worried about … very incriminating prank items to be precise; Dungbombs and fireworks amongst the most harmless things. They had thought she'd go straight to those items and discard the Invisibility cloak.

"I've been wondering how long it would take for you to realise that we had one." replied James, testily. He too was beginning to remember Evans' birthday party, and started to squirm in displeasure as he thought of Josh taking advantage of her. Definitely not a pleasant thought, one that had made James glare menacingly at Josh ever since that incident.

Lily squealed very girlishly. "An _Invisibility Cloak._" she repeated.

Sirius nodded slowly, and hastily took the distraction as extra time to step in front of the other items to conceal them a bit.

Lily waved a dismissive hand over at Sirius, her eyes still riveted over to the cloak. "I already saw those things, Sirius … uh twenty points each taken away from the both of you … and a weeks detention."

"A week's detention?" James echoed in disbelief. "You can't assign a detention for that long!"

"I'm doing the Head Girl's job so therefore I can assign you a detention for a week." retorted Lily importantly, but then moved onto far more interesting topics of conversation. "Anyway, I can't believe you guys have an Invisibility Cloak."

"_I_ have an Invisibility Cloak," replied James proudly, straightening up a bit. In his six years, he hadn't told many people about his Invisibility Cloak (for obvious reasons), so it felt good to be able to tell someone … especially Evans, since she seemed so awed by it. "It was my father's."

"But they're so rare," Lily blurted out, wanting desperately to touch the fabric. She was indeed awed by the Cloak. "I mean I've read about and seen pictures of them, but never … never have I actually seen one in real life … well remembered one, that is." She added sheepishly.

"I gather you like it then?" Sirius asked dryly.

Lily turned around, her face flushed in excitement. It made James' stomach tighten in an uncomfortable knot. "Of course I do." she answered, then added shyly. "Can I use it?"

James's jaw dropped open, and thankfully forgot about the feeling in his stomach. "Are you kidding? You come in here to inspect our dorm" he began to count it off on his right hand, "take away points," another finger, "give us detentions" and another, "and then expect me to just hand over the cloak for a little try?" Here he gave up on the counting and threw both hands in the air in a gesture of disbelief.

"Well I could reduce the detentions to just one night." said Lily impishly, thoughtfully pushing a stray lock of hair from her face.

Oh crap, the feeling was back again. James fought back a gulp and looked down at the ground.

"How about no detention at all?" Sirius suggested, as James wasn't saying anything. "And no points?"

Lily silenced him with a glare that spoke volumes. "Don't push it." she warned, before finally coming to a reasonable enough decision. Well reasonable enough to be able to borrow the Invisibility Cloak. Bella would kill her if she missed her chance, and Lily had always wanted to be invisible at least once in her life. 

"How does one night's detention and five points from each sound?" she finally asked. "I'll say I only found the fireworks … nothing about the dungbombs or … _what is that_?" she said, screwing up her nose as she caught sight of something very disturbing. It looked like a tool out of a medical drama on her television back home. A rather painful looking medical tool by the looks of it.

Sirius quickly hid the offending tool behind his back. "Nothing." he replied just as quick.

"Right," Lily narrowed her eyes, choosing to overlook it this time, for the sake of the cloak. "Well anyway, how does that sound?"

James managed to splutter, "Yeah – uh th-that's fine with me."

"So I can borrow it?" Lily ventured eagerly.

Nodding, James fingered his cloak. Though he was rather protective of his cloak, he actually wasn't minding the fact that Evans was asking to borrow it, nor was he minding the fact that she was blackmailing them very surreptitiously. "When do you want to borrow it?"

Lily thought quick, trying to figure out when she would have the free time to use it. "Tomorrow night if that's alright."

"Fine," said James. "Come and see me in the common room tomorrow night after dinner and I'll give it to you then."

Lily clasped her hands in delight and practically bounced out of the room to find Lisa and tell her about the inspection. Half of her felt guilty that she was slightly shirking on her duty as the stand-in Head Girl, but the other half desperately wanted to use that Invisibility Cloak with her two best friends … roaming around Hogwarts, finding secret passageways … other than the one Potter had shown her of course. She grinned. That other half was definitely winning … how could she resist it?

~*~

James shut the door after Lily had run out of the room then turned back to Sirius, who had begun to pack away all their prank items.

"_Who_ was that?" asked Sirius in disbelief, as he placed the disturbing looking tool inside his sock drawer. "because I'm telling you, if that was the real Lily Evans, we'd be hightailing it over to Filch's office about now …"

Sitting down on his bed, a dreamy smile spread across James's face, and he tuned out Sirius's ramblings. He had never known how mischievous Evans was. He always thought it was her friends Bella and Sionell who were the troublemakers, but now … now he had to hand it to Evans. She sure knew how to get her way … using her position to manipulate him like that …  it made her so appealing in James's eyes. His stomach jumped a little again, when he began to think back again.

When he had stood there listening to her as she talked about the cloak, all the anger and loathing he once felt for her had disappeared in an instant. Who cared about what had happened between them in the past? If anything it just added to his attraction for her … the passion … the-

"Oy … oy Prongs."

James's head popped up. "Uh what?" he said stupidly.

Sirius sighed. "I was just trying to tell you," he said pointedly, "that we were real lucky getting off the way we did … the idea of a week long detention didn't really appeal to me at this point, especially with all those pranks we have to pull before the year's up."

"Yeah," James replied vaguely. "Real lucky."

James wasn't talking about the same kind of luck though. He was thinking more along the lines of: lucky he got to see Evans in a different light … and lucky he had finally understood and felt the moment that Remus had described to him.

How could he _not _like anything about her?

She was bloody incredible!

~*~

A/N: Was that confusing? I've been writing bits and pieces of this chapter for a while, but at the moment it's almost 12:30 at night, and I'm not really all there. But I figured I'd get it out before I went to sleep, because then I could wake up, and hopefully see reviews for my story when I check it!!

Ok well, next chapter definitely has the fifth year incident. Half of it is already written, and it should be up within two weeks (maybe more, because I have two weeks of exam coming up very very soon!

**_Also, I've just made a yahoo group for my two fics, and if anyone wants to join the address is on my bio (as the link doesn't seem to show up here. I'd love for people to join!!_******

****


	19. A time not to be forgotten

DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED 

**Summary:** Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter & up until fifth year James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy … & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind …

**Forewords:** Sorry again, I know you've all been expecting me to write sooner, but exams were _tough_. I have just finished, so I'll be faster to update now, I promise!! Four months of freedom, yay!!

Anyway, I have to admit I got a little carried away in this chapter. As a result, the Pensieve incident is going to be split into two chapters, because the whole little idea of the Invisibility Cloak is way longer than I had originally planned. So please don't kill me!

And another thing, I just wanted to say that I love all the reviews I'm getting but it is getting a bit tiring to be reminded about the non-oopt parts in my story. I am aware that I haven't followed the book 

completely, but I started the fic a month before the book was released, and I've gone too far to change things now!! Believe me I've tried to make it as compatible to OotP as possible!

Right, well now my rambling is over, I still would like to thank everyone who reviewed, because I do appreciate them!

Oh, and I almost forgot. I just created a yahoo group for my this fic and my other Harry Potter fic, so anybody is free to join. Soon, I'll be posting up all the chapters of my stories on there, as well as snippets of future ones that I'm working on, and also any other news about my fic. The address is on my bio because apparently the address doesn't show on here. 

Anyway, thank you to all the people who reviewed. I was amazed to find over 40 emails informing me of all the reviews!

**Munkie: **_Lol, that is rather a coincidence isn't it? Thanks for reviewing!_

**Panda10s:**_ Thank you, and sorry for the wait again. It will get better now!_

**ChicKaboom:**_ Great, I'm glad you liked and understood it! Thanks for reviewing._

**ThiMonkey:**_ lol, then you'll like this chapter then … I hope. Thanks for reviewing again._

**Carmenel:**_ Thanks for reviewing twice, and it's great to meet another aussie!! I changed the title because I want my fic to stand out from all the other titles. I have to agree with some other reviewers that my title didn't really fit the way my story was going, and that it was rather cliché … and that's what I don't want, lol. Well anyway, thanks for reviewing!_

**BlueEyedWildmage:**_ Well, if last chapter's length made up for the wait, then this chapter will definitely make up for my pathetic update times!! My longest yet, and thanks for reviewing again!_

**KristiexxNguyen:**_ Thank you, I'll try!_

**Galadreial:**_ Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you keep on reading because I promise I'll finish this story. I've already read part of the last chapter (which won't be for a looong while though)_

**Pristine:** _Thanks, I'm glad that you still like my story regardless of the fact that it's not completely compatible with OotP. As for the rest of the review … you're making me blush. I was really pleased that you liked the kiss, and that you saw the slow progression of James' feelings throughout the whole story so far. I'm sorry for taking longer than I had originally said, but don't worry I will make a twist in the romance between Lily and James … they aren't together yet, so there's a long road to go! Anyway, thanks for reviewing again, and I just wanted to know if my new title catches your attention more than my old one. I know the last wasn't particularly eye-catching._

**TaintedDay:**_ lol, ok here's more, and thanks for reviewing!_

**Sproxkkk:**_ Thanks for reviewing!_

**Write-on3108:**_ Umm, yes, lol. That is rather me. Something good happens, and then Lily and James fight again! Ah well, I'm glad you like the story anyway. And yes, this fic will continue all the way to the end of 7th year … then it will finish. Afterwards, I might make a sequel for their life after Hogwarts, but that's just an idea._

**Alenchic:**_ Thank you for the review!! I really appreciated it, and yes exams are horrible, horrible things. Luckily I made it through, and I'm finally finished, lol._

**Amor-Lupus:**_ Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. It was rather hard to express James' growing feelings for his supposed enemy, so it's good to know that it made sense after all._

**Urebriviel:**_ Thank you!_

**PhOeNiXReBiRtH:**_ Umm … I have no idea, lol. I don't really think I write that well … I always find things wrong in my writing. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!!_

**Allie cat5:**_ Thanks, hope your still reading!!_

**High Elf Queen:**_ Thank you for reviewing._

**Ninde Greenleaf: **_First I have to say thank you for reviewing my first five chapters. I'm very much honoured that you liked it enough to review. Umm as I have said in my forewords, I am aware of the non-oopt-compatible stuff in my story, but unfortunately some of the later parts of my story required it to be like that, and it's too late to change it now. Oh and about Sirius … I know it was kinda ooc but he deserves a little fun, and I don't think it was an insult to his memory. Everyone has something a little wild in their life, if you know what I mean. Well anyway, thank you again for reviewing, and I hope you continue to review. Also, what does nemaria friend mean? I am just a tad curious, lol._

**Whystical:**_ Hey, thanks for another review, and I'm glad you liked the title. I have to say that I haven't read your friend's fic. I skimmed through a bit of it quickly after I read your review though, and what I saw I liked. I'll have to read it when I get more time, so thanks for telling me about it! I'm glad that you still like reading it, and I will definitely keep on enjoying writing it. I cant stop … it's madness, lol._

**Firewalker:**_ Thank you, and here's the next chapter for you to finally read!_

**DRUIDGIRL:**_ Lol, thanks, I'm glad you liked it! It was one of my favourites to write! And yeah, it is rather interesting to see people's different cultures. I mean a fair amount of books I read aren't written by Australian authors, so reading the different sayings and that are really intriguing!!_

**Lexie13:**_ Thank you for reviewing!_

**Random person:**_ Thank you, I'm glad you liked the chapter, and that you thought Remus was amusing!!_

**LisBleu:**_ Thank you, and don't worry I will._

**Lora:**_ Thank you very much, and I will._

**MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus:**_ Ah, you flatter me too much. Putting my name on your favourite stories and authors, AND author alert? Thanks, and don't worry, I understand the temperament of ff.net reviews. I'm just glad you wrote another!_

**Kuki1:**_ Thank you, and I hope you keep on reading and reviewing!_

**Pittsy:**_ lol, sorry about that. I'm glad you found it nonetheless, and that you liked it enough to search for it!! Thanks!!_

**Becky:**_ Thank you for the lovely review, and I'm really honoured that you'd choose to review to my story, even though you're only a new user of fanfiction. I know that when I first started reading fanfics here, I hardly ever reviewed to people's stories. So anyway, thank you again, and I hope you keep on reading (whether at school or not, I'll be happy, lol)._

**Yumiko-chan:**_ lol, yeah it's pretty lengthy, but I'm only halfway through … actually probably not even that … so sorry about that. Thanks for reviewing though, and there will be more kissing scenes with James and Lily. Just not for a while longer._

**Elven Dagger:**_ Thank you! (Smiling back). I hope you keep on reading and reviewing!_

**Moon391:**_ Thank you for another review, and I'm very happy that you'll let me slide. You'll just have to put up with James thinking Remus he was a prat at the moment. He won't later … probably think of snogging him … lol, for helping him with Lily, that is._

**Drops-of-Winter:**_ Hmm, it seems your computer has gone a bit crazy. Thanks for the effort of trying to review anyway!! It's the thought that counts, lol!! Hope you keep on reading and that your computer goes back to normal._

**Magee:**_ Thank you for reviewing, and I'm glad you like the progression of James' feelings. Later on, I'll have a lot more Lily as well._

**Katina Wellson:**_ Sorry, the updated ended up being a lot later than two weeks. I hope you'll keep on reading though, and I'm really, really glad that you like it. _

**Grated Cheese:**_ lol, thanks. I'm glad you liked it!_

**Wandless:**_ Thank you for reading and reviewing, and I hope you got the chance to read the rest!!_

**Kathryn:**_ lol, well at the moment, shaking Lily wouldn't be so good, because she doesn't exactly have romantic feelings for him. Later on she will though!! Anyway, thanks for reviewing!!_

**Zane Lupin:**_ Thanks for another lovely review. I'm glad you approve of my new title. I rather enjoy it now, and I've even planned a little mention of it in the final chapter, which I kind of started to write. Don't worry though, that's not for a long while. Oh and I'm really sorry that the complete Pensieve 2 incident wasn't able to fit in this chapter, but the next will include the rest of it, so I hope you aren't too disappointed. The whole damn Lily with the Cloak thing, really complicated things, lol. _

_I'm also really happy that somebody else saw that I've been redoing parts of my chapters, including the part that you mentioned. Glad you liked it by the way. Actually you know … I'm really happy with your whole review … lol. I liked it that you liked how James admitted to his feelings, and all-knowing Remus, and the whole death glare sent to Josh thing … he he, that reminds me of something else … Anyway, I am sorry that I didn't completely write what Lily was meant to do. I meant to say that she was supposed to inspect just the boys dorm, because like you said, doing her own dorm is a bit unfair … so I changed it to suit it better. Thanks again for reviewing and for joining my yahoo group! And you can stalk me if you want, makes me feel special … lol, nah, just delete that comment from your mind, hehe._

**WhatsInAName:**_ Thank you, and I hope you keep on reading it!_

**BlackCherryLipz:**_ Lol, you really think so? I'm honoured. And don't worry, one month updates will be a thing of the past now, as I've finally finished uni for 4 ENTIRE MONTHS. He he … freeeeedom. I'm glad you liked the new title, and don't worry no offence was taken. I completely agree that it was rather cliché, and that is something I definitely don't want. Anyway, don't hunt me down, because here is another chapter!! Thanks and keep on reading and reviewing, cause that will make my day!_

**Victoria Moore:**_ Thanks for reviewing twice, and I hope you keep on reading and reviewing!!_

**Kathryn:**_ I'm not sure whether you're the same Kathryn that has already reviewed, so I'll thank you for reviewing anyway! I'm sorry for taking so long to update, but finally here it is. I hope you like it, and that it is enough to tide you over until my next update, which should be within a week or two._

**Kate:**_ lol, sorry, thanks for reviewing, and sorry for the long wait._

**Disclaimer **(haven't done one of these in a while): This following chapter includes an excerpt from JK Rowling's book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It does not belong to me, and I have only attempted to add things; the wording is basically the same, so please don't sue!!

Chapter Nineteen

~A time not to be forgotten~

By the time Lily reported to Lisa the results of the inspection and returned back to her dorm to find Bella and Sionell, she was practically bursting with excitement.

"Guess what?" she asked excitedly.

Bella lowered her Witch Weekly magazine to watch Lily bouncing around "What?"

Not answering immediately, Lily grabbed a nearby robe and dramatically wrapped it around the top of her shoulders.

"Uh Lily," Bella's tone sounded as though she was talking to one who belonged into a mental asylum.

Lily spun around in a circle before answering. "Yes?"

"Anything you want to share with us before we cart you off to St Mungo's?" asked Bella.

"Oh," Lily pretended to think for a moment, then grinned. "It's not much … just that tomorrow night you, Sionell and myself have a date …" she stopped dramatically, until she had Sionell and Bella's undivided attention. "_with an invisibility cloak_!" The last bit included another squeal, which was followed by a loud thunk.

Bella pulled herself up from the ground, where she had just landed.

"An _invisibility cloak!_" Bella screeched, just as Sionell shouted "You're kidding me?"

"No, I'm not kidding and yes an invisibility cloak." replied Lily, lifting the cloak above her head. "It turns out Potter's had one stashed away for the past five years."

"Potter had one?" echoed Sionell, then her face lightened up in realisation. "That's how they manage to get away unscathed from most of their pranks! … Lucky buggers."

Bella snatched the robe away from Lily and threw it onto her bed. "Why's Potter letting you borrow it tomorrow night? Unless I'm much mistaken you both _loathe_ each other."

"Oh I wouldn't say loathe exactly." said Sionell with a pointed stare in Lily's direction.

Lily dismissed it with a wave, but her cheeks were tinged with red. She knew Sionell was referring to the kiss, and that was one topic she definitely wasn't interested in bringing up again … especially in front of Bella who was still completely clueless on the whole event.

"Of course it is _loathing_," Bella scoffed exasperatedly, not catching the look between the other two girls. "Have you _seen_ all the times he's been glaring at her these past few weeks?"

"I don't think there's a person left in Hogwarts that hasn't noticed all the attention that Mr James Potter has been bestowing on our Miss Lily Evans here." Sionell replied dryly.

"Hmm," Bella sighed. "Well I think he's up to no good, and I can't see why he's letting you borrow it just like that." She snapped her fingers.

Lily's face suddenly turned a violent scarlet, and she fidgeted nervously. "Actually, he didn't really have a choice in the matter." She replied softly. "I uh – I had to inspect their dorms today for the Head Girl, and I found a – few incriminating items that would have put Gryffindor into the negative. So I … made a little deal with them, where-"

"-You blackmailed him into lending us the invisibility cloak for the night." Sionell finished with a knowing grin. "That is the most brilliant idea you have ever had."

Bella nodded her agreement. "This is better than the foxy boxers prank." Her face took on a dreamy expression. "Imagine what we would pull off with it tomorrow night …"

"Yeah." Lily and Sionell sighed in unison.

~*~

The next day passed extremely slow for the three very eager girls. By the time dinner approached, Lily, Sionell and Bella's minds were purely on the exact moment when James was going to finish his dinner; Lily spilt pumpkin juice over her sleeve, Bella buttered her meat pie, and Sionell poured sauce into her soup. 

Obviously, they didn't eat much that dinner.

After the girls had watched James have his third helping of dessert, Lily practically hit her head in frustration.

"Why. Won't. He. Just. Give. It. To. Us?" Lily complained; now resorting to banging her head onto the table.

As if he had heard Lily from the other side of the table, James stood up with the rest of his friends, and moved out of the Great Hall.

"Yes!" whooped Bella, jumping up as soon as the doors closed. She turned around, noticing that everybody was watching her curiously. "Does it _look_ like it's any of your business?" she demanded forcefully, making everyone resume their eating.

They walked out of Hall, giggling and playfully teasing each other, until they reached the portrait, where Lily climbed through first.

"I'll just go retrieve the cloak, shall I?" suggested Lily, grinning as she turned over to the Marauders. Bella and Sionell nodded, saying that they'll meet her up in their dorm.

Lily strode over to James, who was sitting by the fireplace with a thoughtful look on his face. She stopped in front of him, and he suddenly snapped back to attention.

"Yes?" he asked, fixing his hazel eyes onto her. How many times had she seen those eyes seeking her out the past few weeks, she asked herself silently … and why? It was an uncomfortable thought.

"You said after dinner." whispered Lily, leaning in close to James so nobody else would hear.

James stiffened, to Lily's surprise, and leant back further in the chair. "Right." he said, in discomfort, lowering his gaze to pull out the Invisibility Cloak from under his robe. "Uh … just remember to uh bring it back the next time I … see you."

Not yet passing onto the cloak though, James coughed once, seeming to regain his bearings and added impetuously, "Unless you want me to join you for a _tour_? Then you can just give it back to me then."

Trying not to sound ungrateful, Lily attempted a tight smile. The last _tour_ she had of Hogwarts ended in a resounding slap and much confusion on her part. "Sorry Potter, I doubt you'd fit under it with me, Bella and Sionell." she declined as politely as possible.

"Ah well we could always do it some other time." James finally handed his cloak over to Lily who quickly hid it underneath her own robes. She nodded her thanks, and eyed James strangely as she ascended the stairs to the girls dormitory. Potter was acting weirder by the day, she thought with a wry grin.

~*~

"What was all that about, Prongs?" asked Sirius, who was sitting across from James. "You were stuttering like a besotted little boy."

"That's 'cause he is." Remus acknowledged from behind his book.

Ignoring James' exasperated groans, a smile grew on Sirius's face. "So you've finally admitted to liking her, have you?"

Figuring it was useless, James sighed. "Yes." He mumbled, his body still trembling from having Evans' so close to him. Though he had recently come to terms with it, he still wasn't used to the idea of showing how much she affected him, or telling anybody else. He just wasn't one for showing such weakness. James Potter did not go weak at the knees for anybody … until now, he sighed softly.

"Ha!" barked Sirius, making James jump. "I knew it. All those looks you've been giving her lately, that kiss … all the attention you've been giving to her since first year." Sirius shook his head. "I don't know how it wasn't obvious from the very beginning."

"It was." Remus snorted. "I've known all along that Prongs had fallen hard for Lily … you know what they say about there being a fine line between love and hate …"

Sirius laughed suddenly. "I don't think Evans has quite caught on to that 'fine line'." He said. "I'd say she thought it was more like a two mile wide line, filled with un-crossable terrain … which could get worse." He winked in James' direction.

Peter suddenly snickered, and James turned to glare at him; ignoring the fact that Sirius had a valid point.

~*~

The girls returned to the common room after curfew time; the only other people still down there were the marauders, who were talking amongst themselves. Apart from a pinch to Sirius, compliments of Sionell, the girls passed by the Marauders uneventfully.

"This has to be the best idea you have _ever_ come up with in your entire life." Bella announced softly as they climbed outside and tiptoed around the castle.

Sionell nodded her agreement. "Imagine what we could do with this every night."

"You know, if you had known about this cloak before, me and Sionell really would have appreciated its usefulness when we went to prank those damn Ravenclaws."

Lily snorted, "From what I heard, you managed to do a good job anyway." she said dryly. "Harriet and Marie have to wait a month for some mandrakes before their suspicious case of acne can be cured."****

The three girls broke into giggles at the thought.

"It sure rivals Jason Midgeon's acne, that's for sure." Bella admitted with a smug grin, then slowed down her pace. "So about these secret passageways we talked about last night. Where are we going to start looking for them?"

Whilst Lily was contemplating where a convenient passageway could be, Sionell answered swiftly, "Sirius suggested that there are a couple leading from near the Great Hall."

"Why would he choose to tell you that now?"

"After finding out what I had done to the Ravenclaw girls, he was pleasantly cooperative."

"Wonder why?" Bella snorted sarcastically, but nonetheless moved off toward the Great Hall. They reached the Great Hall doors within minutes.

"Right," said Bella, "Where should we start?"

"How about we start by the statue of Victoria the Vain and then work our down to that portrait of King Edward the first?" Sionell suggested softly.

Lily nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds good to me."

Bella muttered her agreement, and the three of them walked over to the statue and started prodding at odd bits in the wall. They progressively proceeded down the wall with nothing happening, until they reached the portrait of Herley the Hurly.

"Here's one." Bella cried out excitedly, her hands pushing at an unusual bump in the wall. An entryway suddenly appeared, making all three girls gasp.

Remembering her last experience, Lily immediately held her wand up high above her head and muttered, "_Lumos_."

Her light momentarily blinded them, but after their eyes adjusted, Bella and Sionell followed suit, cautiously entering behind Lily; Bella now holding the cloak. When Bella was finally all the way in, the entryway swung shut with a noiseless, but quick slam.

Alarmed at the thought of their only escape route being lost, the girls turned to each other.

"How are we going to get out of here now?" Bella asked nervously, running her hand over where the door had previously been.

"Follow the passageway until where it ends?" Sionell spoke up, twisting her lit wand in her hand. The passageway flickered with the light, creating an eerie atmosphere.

"It's our only chance." Lily conceded, still not deterred from having a good time. "Just think of it as an adventure."

The other two girls nodded and soon began to walk through the passageway; up, down, and at one point curving round until it seemed they were going back the way they had come.

After about fifteen minutes and no sign of any escape door, the girls' hopes were fading, and they began to snipe at each other. 

"Why couldn't we have just snuck into the Slytherin dorms like I had suggested?" moaned Bella, gingerly stepping over what looked to be a dead rat.

"Let's see," Sionell pretended to think, then snapped irritably, "Maybe because it was a complete and utter waste of time! The Marauders do it all the time, and no doubt the Slytherins' would have some sort of wards around their dorms by now."

"Not the girls I bet." Bella insisted grumpily. "And I'd rather have been able to do something about that face of Bellatrix's."

"Look," Lily snapped finally, turning around to face the other two. "We _will_ find a way out of here. All the passageways have a way out. That's the whole idea of them … so just trust me." To prove her point, Lily took another step forward, only to find no ground beneath her.

Screaming, she began to fall forward, until Bella and Sionell grabbed a hold of her robe and pulled her back. Lily gasped for breath, her heart pounding as she pointed her wand in the direction of the hole that she almost fell into. 

"That was close." she panted, trying to regain her breath.

Sionell nodded, and Bella held a hand to her heart as she leant back against the wall for support.

"You're telling me – ahhhh!" 

As Lily had feared in the passageway with Potter, the ground suddenly collapsed beneath them, and the girls found themselves hurtling downwards on some sort of a slide at a frightening speed. The girls' wands had gone out, and they continued to go down the slide in darkness. Finally after what seemed to be hours, but only in reality probably seconds, a light appeared from under them, and the slide began to decrease it's downward spiral. It took only a couple more seconds for the girls to reach the bottom.

_'Compliments of the Marauders.'_ A clearly visible sign said in front of them, before something from above came plummeting down onto them.

Then the screaming began.

~*~

"You reckon they've found our surprise for them now?" Sirius casually asked; both hands planted comfortably at the back of his neck whilst he stretched his legs out on the couch.

"Probably," replied James smiling slightly from his position on the floor. 

Remus looked up from his chess game with Peter; an alarmed expression appearing on his face.

"What surprise?" he asked warily.

Laughing Sirius answered, "Seeing as our revenge for the girl's prank never went ahead-"

"-and Evans blackmailed us, we thought we'd something for them in return." Peter finished happily, moving his queen to take one of Remus's bishops.

"Yeah a little welcoming party, so to speak." James chimed in smugly. He chuckled inwardly at the thought of what might be happening to the girls right now. Though he _did_ like Evans, he wasn't about to exclude her from anymore pranks … especially when she didn't mind blackmailing him. 

"What kind of welcoming party?"

"Uhh, remember those magical snails, or whatever you call them … the ones we studied a few weeks ago?" asked James.

At Remus's slow nod, Sirius continued on.

"Well, when James and I finished Quidditch practice this morning, Professor Kettleburn was going back and forth getting rid of bucketfuls of their uh -"

"Oh no" Remus groaned, shaking his head and closing his eyes. "You didn't- you can't be that stupid."

"We did." James and Sirius said in unison. "We offered to dispose of it for him, and well that led to some rather amusing ideas …"

"And then they told me. How could I resist joining in?" said Peter.

"I hope they had the sense to keep my Cloak out of harm's way," James added as an afterthought, his chin propped up with one hand on the floor.

Remus snorted, standing up as he moved one of his knights on the board.

"Where are you going?" asked Peter, his face still riveted to the chess game.

"If James is going to have that attitude when the girls come back here, I don't think I want to be within ten feet of their explosion." Remus said matter-of-factly, walking over to the stairs. "Goodnight gentlemen, and Peter?"

Peter looked up.

"Checkmate." And with Peter's indignant protests, Remus smugly disappeared up the stairs.

Sirius turned to James, grinning. "A bit dramatic ain't he?" he asked. "It's not as though they'll kill us or anything."

~*~

"I am going to kill those dirty, conniving-"

"Bella calm down." 

"_How can I calm down?_" Bella screeched, wringing out her hair. "I'm completely covered from head to toe in slime!"

Cleaning her face with the inside of Potter's Invisibility cloak, Lily grumbled, "Actually I think it's snail goo … _not that it's any better_." She hurriedly added, noticing Bella's left eye twitching, which only happened when she was truly angry.

Lily sighed, relighting her wand; though the sign that the Marauders' had set up was still flashing brightly above their heads. She scowled at the sign for a moment more, tempted to burn it into ashes, but then her eyes latched onto the cloak lying by her feet and with a certain amount of satisfaction, she began to wipe off the goo from her face and body off onto the inside of the cloak.

When she was finished, she wordlessly held it out for Sionell to do the same, seeing as Bella was still muttering under her breath. 

"Whatever it is I'm going to wring their necks, especially that no good grinning hyena boyfriend of yours." grumbled Bella.

"Normally, I'd bother with some sort of remark in his defence," replied Sionell, casually. "but –" She stopped to carefully wipe away a glob of goo from her nose. "But, I think I quite agree with that apt description and I think I may be willing to join in."

~*~

Not long after, the portrait door swung open of its own accord and moments later, the three girls appeared right in front of the three boys' eyes.

James immediately searched for Lily, and found her standing inbetween Sionell and Bella. She didn't look too pleased, but even as a goo-covered, sludgy girl, James found he couldn't take her eyes off her. He unconsciously straightened up.

"Evening ladies." he greeted courteously, a small smile appearing on his face. The other two had a hard job at disguising their sniggers at the sight. 

"Oh you find that funny do you?" snapped Sionell, hands on her hips as she glared at her boyfriend.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, kind of."

Lily made a nose that sounded half like a growl. "Here's your stinking Invisibility Cloak, _Potter_." she hissed, viciously throwing the cloak at James's head. He caught it, but then grimaced as his hands felt the inside of the cloak.

"It's all slimy!" he protested, looking at the girls.

"We were a bit short on towels, so we just used what was in our possession." Sionell shrugged uncaringly.

Sirius faked a look of surprise. 'What, didn't we leave you some towels?"

"Ooooh … have you sworn on some – some oath that you have to continuously be up to no good or something?" Lily spluttered angrily, stopping the boys' laughs. "Because I am finding it increasingly impossible to believe that you can actually act your age for once."

Sirius clapped his hands. "Hey, that's a good one." He said to James. "An oath for the Marauders." He tested it out by elaborately waving his wand like a sword. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." 

"Great idea Evans." Sirius nodded, grinning. "I'll have to remember that one."

"I didn't intend on giving you an idea." Lily screeched back, her face turning redder by the minute. "I intend on hexing your asses all the way to Hogsmeade."

"Oh good, I've been wanting to get a few things from there."

James could see that Lily was getting more frustrated by the second, and he aimed a winning smile at her, in the attempt of calming her down.

To no affect however, Lily mistook the smile, thinking that Potter was just rubbing it in, and she spat in disgust. "Fine you got us back for the other prank. Does that make you happy? All content and warm inside?" Suddenly something hit her, and she gasped. "Is _that_ the reason you've been staring at me all these weeks? Just so you could find a way to play a prank on me?"

James' eyes widened. "I haven't been staring at you." he protested, hoping he sounded convincing enough.

"Even I've seen you staring Potter." Bella mentioned venomously, and James cringed inwardly. He didn't think he was _that_ obvious.

"Now listen," Sirius interrupted smoothly. "This prank was only a spur-of-the moment thing, after Lily caught us out in our dorms. Nothing was previously planned, although when it comes to think of it, we are at least even now."

James nodded quickly, thankful to Sirius for shifting the awkward conversation away from his little predicament of the whole staring thing.

"EVEN?" shrieked Bella, practically shoving her goo-covered robe under Sirius's nose. "I don't know how you found out that it was us that did that other prank, but we are most certainly not even." She thrust the robe even closer to Sirius who took a cautious step back. "_Look_ at my robe. _Look_ at me!"

"I'd uh-" Sirius started infuriatingly. "I think the more accurate thing for you to say would be …" He broke off his sentence to snigger loudly, "would be to '_smell _me'." Then he clamped two fingers over his nose; peg style.

Bella would have been at Sirius's throat within a second if the goo hadn't dried enough to hinder any quick movements. As it was, her arms twitched, making Sirius jump back.

"If it wasn't for the fact that our OWLS are coming up, I'd prank you so much that you'll wish it was just the boxers that we hex." Lily threatened, holding on to Bella. " … and when you least expect it too."

At Sirius's astonished look, Peter's blatant jaw-drop, and James' fruitless gaping, Lily spun on her heel with as much dignity as one can be with goo covering every inch of her body, and stalked upstairs; Bella and Sionell in tow.

When Sirius finally recovered, he turned to James. "That lines getting wider by the minute." he informed James.

~*~

The four house tables in the Great Hall of Hogwarts were gone. In their place stood more than a hundred smaller tables, all facing the same way. At each of the hundred desks sat a student, head bent low, scribbling on a roll of parchment. The only sound was the scratching of quills and the occasional rustle as somebody adjusted their parchment. It was clearly exam time for Hogwarts students, which meant for the 5th year Gryffindors; the dreaded OWLs had finally arrived.

The months had passed quickly, with Gryffindor winning the Quidditch Cup for the fourth time in a row just two week before. But now the only thing on everyone's mind were the exams.

Luckily the first few exams passed as well as could be; that is without Lily having a nervous breakdown and putting every House in the negative points, and James and Sirius not playing anymore pranks.

Therefore, it was with a cheerful air when their second to last exam, Defence Against the Dark Arts, was on, especially when the day turned out to be quite lovely. Sunshine was streaming through the high windows on to everyone's bent heads, which shone chestnut and copper and gold in the bright light.

James, who was sitting close to the middle of the Hall and had almost finished his exam, shot a look over at Snape, who had his usual stringy, pallid look about him. His hair was no less lank or greasier either, and his hooked noise was barely an inch from the surface of the parchment as he scribbled. James fought the urge to snarl at the very sight of him; why Evans even bothered with him was just pathetic to think about.

'Five more minutes!' Professor Flitwick announced, only the top of his head visible as he moved between the desks a short distance away. A couple moments later he passed James, who straightened up in his chair and put down his quill. Next he pulled his roll of parchment towards him so as to reread what he had written.

James yawned hugely and rumpled up his hair, making it even messier than it had been. Then, with a glance towards Professor Flitwick, he turned in his seat and grinned at Sirius who was sitting four seats behind him.

Sirius gave James a thumb's up in return, lounging back in his chair and tilting it back on two legs. James briefly noticed Casey Connors, a Ravenclaw fifth year, eyeing Sirius with hopefulness, before he shifted his gaze over to Remus, who was sitting two seats along from her.

He momentarily tried to gain Remus' attention by a quick and discreet wave, but Remus didn't notice, too busy rereading his own piece of parchment and frowning into it. James inwardly sighed, and shifted his head to the other side to look at Peter.

As expected, Wormtail was practically pulling his hair out in anxiety as he looked down at his paper. He was also chewing his fingernails, and then occasionally at the students alongside him. Unfortunately, he too didn't meet James' eye and he sighed inwardly, the feeling of boredom returning. James turned back to his spare piece of parchment, and began to doodle a Snitch. Without realising it, he added Evan's initials into it, just like he had done on his attempted transfiguration essay.

"Quills down please!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, making James stop his messy scribbling. About time! "That means you too, Stebbins! Please remain seated while I collect your parchment! _Accio_!"

Over a hundred rolls of parchment zoomed into the air and into Professor Flitwick's outstretched arms, knocking him backwards off his feet. Several people including James, Sirius and Bella laughed, but Lily, Remus and Sionell stood up from their desk to help Professor Flitwick back up onto his feet.

"Thank you … thank you," panted Professor Flitwick, "Very well, everybody, you're free to go!"

Looking down at the scrap parchment again, and not wanting anybody else to see it, James hastily scribbled out the 'L.E' he had been embellishing. He then jumped to his feet, stuffed his quill and the exam paper into his bag, which he slung over his back, and stood waiting for Sirius to join him.

Arabella, Sionell and Lily joined up beside the boys on the way to the Entrance Hall, and began to chat eagerly about their finished exam.

"Did you like question ten, Moony?" asked Sirius as they emerged into the Entrance Hall. By now the girls were a far distance behind and were out of ear-shot.

"Loved it," said Remus briskly. "_Give five signs that identify the werewolf._ Excellent question."

"D'you think you managed to get all the signs?" said James in tones of mock concern.

"Think I did," said Remus seriously, as they joined the crowd thronging around the front doors eager to get out into the sunlit grounds. "One: he's sitting in my chair. Two: he's wearing my clothes. Three: his name's Remus Lupin."

Sirius and James joined in Remus' laughter, but Peter remained silent.

"I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes and the tufted tail," he said anxiously, "but I couldn't think what else-"

"How thick are you, Wormtail?" said James impatiently, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. "You run round with a werewolf once a month–"

"Keep your voice down," implored Remus as the four strode off down the lawn towards the lake.

"Well I thought that paper was a piece of cake," Sirius said, "I'll be surprised if I don't get "Outstanding" on it the least."

"Me too," said James. He put his hand in his pocket and took out a struggling snitch that he had kept from the last game. It had helped keep his eye of Evans for a while, at least, and not think about the possibility of her pranking _other_ parts of his anatomy, which he kind of suspected that Evans would be planning after the goo incident.

"Where'd you get that?" he heard Sirius ask, still continuing their walk.

"Nicked it," said James casually. He started playing with the Snitch, allowing it to fly as much as a foot away before seizing it again; his reflexes were excellent, and Wormtail watched in rapt attention.

They finally stopped in the shade of their favourite beech tree on the edge of the lake, and threw themselves down on the grass. 

In the act of catching the Snitch, James caught sight of the three Gryffindor girls laughing and sitting down at the bank; their shoes and socks off as they dipped their feet into the water. Evans seemed more relaxed than she had been in a while, and James found himself watching her a few moments longer.

When he brought his attention back to his friends, Remus had already pulled out a book and was reading. Sirius was still sitting on the ground, looking rather haughty and bored as he stared around at everyone, like James had just been doing. The Snitch suddenly drew further away from him, and James snatched it up without thought. He let it zoom further and further away, almost escaping but always grabbing it at the last second. He only vaguely noticed Wormtail's open mouth and little gasps, but being used to the attention, he didn't mention it, just kept on playing with the Snitch. Occasionally he would look over at Lily by the water's edge and rumple his hair up as he would catch sight of her looking his way.

"Put that away, will you," said Sirius finally, as James made a fine catch that made Wormtail let out a cheer, "before Wormtail wets himself with excitement."

Wormtail turned slightly pink, but James grinned.

"If it bothers you," he said, stuffing the Snitch back in his pocket.

"I'm bored," said Sirius. "Wish it was full moon."

"You might," said Remus darkly from behind his book. "We've still got Transfiguration, if you're bored you could test me. Here …" and he held out his book.

But Sirius snorted, as James knew he would. "I don't need to look at that rubbish, I know it all."

James was about to voice his agreement that there was no use studying it now, but his attention was drawn elsewhere; more particularly to Snape, who was sitting amongst the tall reeds of the lake. Now was their chance to get a little payback.

"This'll liven you up, Padfoot," said James quietly, not taking his eyes off the snivelling Slytherin. "Look who it is …"

Sirius's head turned. He became very still, like a dog that has scented a rabbit.

"Excellent," he said softly. "_Snivellus."_

~*~

A/N: Sorry for leaving it at a cliffhanger. You all know what basically happens next anyway, so don't fret too much. Just be pleased that this was my longest DAMN chapter I've ever written. 5041 words or something like that … don't expect another one that length though. It might kill me, lol. 

Ok, well half of the next chapter is already written, but it might take another week to finish it off completely, because I'm a bit busy celebrating the end of my exams, he he. To make you guys a bit happier, I might post up a bit of the chapter up on my yahoo group in a few days. So that's a suggestion to join up my lovely yahoo group, hehe.


	20. Shocked into oblivion

DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED 

**Summary:** Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter & up until fifth year James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy … & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind …

**Forewords: **Sorry I took so long again. It just took me ages for this chapter to be acceptable in my eyes.

Anyway, I'll re-edit this chapter tomorrow, to add my responses to the reviews for the last chapter. It's just too late now! Sorry!!

Chapter Twenty 

~Shocked into oblivion~

The two watched as Snivellus stood up from where he was sitting, stowing away the OWL paper in his bag. As he left the shadows of the bushes and set off across the grass, Sirius and James stood up.

James still had a bone to pick with Snivellus about that little hexing that Evans' had stopped him from giving … not to mention how cruel he had treated her in potions that time. He hadn't been aware of it at the time, because he had been on the other side of the room with Wormtail … but Sirius had later told him what the Slytherins' had been saying to her, including that git Snivellus, who after all that she had done for him, merely ignored her. 

James also knew how much it had gotten to Sirius; having a family like Sirius' made him slightly edgy, especially when his so-called family were actively involved in harming the very people he cared about. Sirius didn't care about blood or how pure it was in wizarding society, he never did. But those that did always hit close to Sirius's horrible childhood. 

When James had first met Sirius's family, he'd been warned by his own parents to steer well clear of the lot of them. They were, after all, rumoured to be in with the new Dark Lord who was just starting to cause trouble in the wizarding world. So expecting snobby, upper-class pure blood wizards, it was to James' surprise to find Sirius, a boy remarkably like him in nearly every way. He came to see that Sirius was the black sheep of the family; he didn't follow any of the beliefs his family held so dear, nor did he care about anything else that was involved. To this day, he remained the same, and that was one of the main reasons Sirius hated Snape and every one of the other Slytherins' that contaminated the dungeons.

Biting his lip slightly, James brought his mind back to the present, where Sirius was still staring Snape down as they continued to walk towards him. James saw, without surprise out of the corner of his eye that Remus remained sitting with Wormtail as Sirius and him gambolled over to Snivellus.

"All right, Snivellus?" said James loudly, as they stood only a feet behind him.

Snivellus reacted so fast it was as though he had been expecting an attack, which he probably was, James grinned smugly. He watched in amusement as Snivellus dropped his bag and plunged his hand inside his robes for most obviously his wand. When the wand was halfway into the air, James shouted, "_Expelliarmus!"_

Snape's wand flew twelve feet into the air and fell with a little thud in the grass behind him. Sirius let out a bark of laughter.

"_Impedimenta!" _ he said, pointing his wand at Snape, who was knocked off his feet halfway through a dive towards his fallen wand. James was struck with déjà vu as he watched the scene, remembering the last time he had fought with Snape. He shook the thought off and kept his stare on Snape who was now lying on the ground.

As usual, students all around began to watch the scene unfold. Some were walking up to them as James and Sirius advanced on Snape, wands raised. Wormtail had also joined the little group of bystanders, edging around Remus in anticipation and eagerness. 

James quickly glanced over his shoulder at Evans as he went, but didn't see her watching yet. 

"How'd the exam go, Snivelly?" said James.

"I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment," said Sirius viciously, not bothering to wait for Snape's answer. "There'll be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word."

Several people around them laughed; Wormtail sniggering shrilly. Snape tried to get up, but the jinx was still operating on him; he was struggling, as though bound by invisible ropes.

~*~

Lily settled into the cushy ground by the lake with a sigh of relief and dipped her feet into the water. It was the first time in ages that she had been given some time to just relax for a few hours, and the day was beautiful, as she had thought inside the Great Hall during the exam.

She smiled as she looked back in the direction of the Great Hall. After 9 gruelling exams, only one remained. No matter if it was Transfiguration … one of Lily's less preferable subjects. After all it wouldn't be until the next day, so she'd have all night to revise again.

A splash of water hit Lily's knees, and she let out a cry as the cold water soaked partway into her skirt

"Hey." she protested, flicking a bit of water back over at Bella.

Bella retaliated cheekily, and Sionell suddenly caught in the crossfire, almost found herself in the lake. She jumped back quickly, glaring accusingly at the two laughing girls. Eventually she gave in and began to laugh too.

"It's good to see that you're finally relaxing a bit, Lily." remarked Sionell.

"You mean it's good to see her somewhere other than the exam room and our dorm?" Bella added dryly, though her uniform was anything but.

Lily's cheeks reddened slightly. "I have been a bit bad lately, haven't I?"

"Just a bit." Sionell admitted. "But look on the bright side. The Slytherins' haven't been able to accuse the Gryffindor prefects of being biased lately. You targeted everyone in your rampage."

Lily crossed her legs and watched the squid do a turn in the deep part of the lake. "Well apart from Transfiguration, the exams are all over," she said positively. "So I figured it was time to join you guys for once."

"That must mean you think you've gone pretty well in most of them then?"

"Oh no," Lily shook her head, frowning. "Not at all. Like in this exam, I was only able to talk for two inches on that question on grindylows and their origins."

Bella grinned. "I just managed one inch," she said proudly. "And if that's half of what you wrote then I must have done ok."

Snorting, Lily stretched her arms above her head, and turned to look around at the other students lying around outside. From her position by the lake, she could just see the Marauders sitting underneath the large oak tree. 

"From what I heard before, it sounded like your boyfriends and the rest of their little group did alright." Lily said, making Bella and Sionell look over at Remus and Sirius. "Heard your-" she indicated Sionell, "-boyfriend boasting about getting an Outstanding."

The snort that followed that comment showed just how much Lily believed that as she gazed back over at the boys. She caught Potter's eye for a moment whilst he was in the midst of catching a snitch (no doubt the same one from the game two weeks ago. Lily hadn't seen him without it since.), before frowning and turning back to her friends.

"I see _some_ people are more relaxed than some."

Bella waved a disinterested hand, and then began to tell Lily and Sionell about a new joke she'd heard from a couple of girls from Hufflepuff. When she'd finished, and the girls had calmed down enough to wipe the tears from their face, Lily suddenly heard the sound of different laughter coming from another place. 

Lily shot her head to look over at a group forming around by the bushes, near where the Marauders had been sitting. She only had to catch sight of Snape on the ground and James leering over to him to know that they were at it again. She wondered what it was over this time, before striding over to them in displeasure, ignoring Bella and Sionell's protests to leave them alone.

~*~

"You – wait," Snape panted, staring up at James with an expression of purest loathing, "you – wait!"

"Wait for what?" said Sirius coolly, "What're you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?"

Snape let out a stream of mixed swear words and hexes, but with his wand ten feet away nothing happened.

"Wash out your mouth," said James coldly. "_Scourgify!"_

Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape's mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him –

"Leave him ALONE!"

~*~

Lily had been watching for only a few moments, fighting with herself whether or not to interrupt, before she finally gave in. Potter and Sirius were being heartless, and utter fools, and as a prefect she wouldn't let that happen again.

"Leave him ALONE!" she shouted, pushing her way in front of all the shocked bystanders.

She watched as Potter and Black turned round to face her; watched as Potter's free hand annoyingly went straight to his hair. Even in this condition he could keep up his vain pride. Lily found herself scowling at the thought.

"All right, Evans?" said James, and the same voice she had only moments before heard as being cold, suddenly turned more pleasant, deeper, more mature. For some reason, this angered her even more and her glare hardened.

"Leave him alone," she repeated, looking at Potter with every sign of great dislike. "What's he done to you?"

"Well," said James, appearing to deliberate the point, "it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean …"

Many of the surrounding students laughed, Sirius and Peter included, but Lily and she noticed thankfully Remus, kept quiet. He seemed intent on reading a book, by the looks of things, but Lily knew that he didn't want to get in the middle of anything.

"You think you're funny," she said coldly, turning her attention back to Potter. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him _alone_."

"I will if you go out with me, Evans," said James quickly. "Go on … go out with me and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."

Lily almost dropped her wand in shock. Did he just ask her out? She glanced back at Potter again. _He _had the nerve of asking her out, like that? Like she was some kind of a trade-off? To say she was outraged was an understatement; she felt like tearing him apart, limb by limb. Unfortunately, it didn't even occur to her that he had asked her because he actually liked her.

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid," said Lily, almost immediately. She only absently noticed that the Impediment Jinx on Snape was wearing off and that he was starting to inch towards his fallen wand, spitting out soapsuds as he crawled.

James' heart almost tore in two. Granted, the way and time he had wanted to say it wasn't exactly perfect, but she still didn't have to reject him like that … in front of everyone as though he was doing it purely for his own entertainment. It wasn't his fault he'd fallen for her. Why couldn't she understand that?

"Bad luck, Prongs," said Sirius briskly, but James barely heard him. He was so wrapped up in his own depressing thoughts that he didn't even notice Snape until it was too late.

"OI!" he heard Sirius's shout and James looked up to find Snape had directed his wand straight at him; there was a flash of light and pain, and then a gash appeared on the side of his face, spattering his robes with blood.

Along with the rejection of Evans' and the fury of being hurt, James whirled about and a second flash of light later had Snape hanging upside-down in the air; his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of greying underpants.

Many people in the small crowd cheered; Sirius, Wormtail, and James (who momentarily forgot about Evans' brutal rejection) roaring with laughter. He even noted with no small amount of amusement that Evans' furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile.

"Let him down," she said.

"Certainly," said James and he jerked his wand upwards; Snape fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Focusing his attention on Evans, he never saw Snape disentangling himself from his robes and quickly getting to his feet, wand up.

Sirius, however hadn't missed a thing, and was too quick, saying, "_Petrificus Totalus!"_ , making Snape keel over again, rigid as a board.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily shouted, who now had her wand out. James and Sirius eyed it warily, knowing all too well what that wand had been responsible for over the years.

"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," said James earnestly. Somewhere at the back of his mind he realised that this wasn't the best way to win a girl over, but he mentally shrugged it off. He'd already screwed that up by asking her out only moments before.  

"Take the curse off him, then!"

James sighed deeply, then turned to Snape and muttered the counter-curse.

"There you go," he said, as Snape struggled to his feet. "You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus –"

"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"

After hearing those words, Lily blinked in astonishment. Snape had never uttered those words to her before, and here he was acting as though she was something filthy … foul.

"Fine," she managed to say coolly, her blood boiling considerably. After all those times she had helped him, never had he once thanked her … and she was sick of it. After calling her a mudblood, she wasn't going to take it any longer. "I won't bother in future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, _Snivellus_."

Lily knew by using _Snivellus_, she'd made it clear what she thought about him now … what he had truly chosen over their friendship. It made her sad, but she didn't regret it. Calling her by that name was one of the harshest comments someone could make to her, and he knew it.

James, meanwhile was darn near ropeable. After everything that Lily had ever done for him … defending him … going with him to the Ball when no one else would even go near him, Snape _still _had the nerve to call her something as foul as that.

"Apologise to Evans!" he roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at him.

Lily had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. There was no way that forcing Snape to apologise would ever mean something in the end. He couldn't just force people to do something … like he couldn't force her to go out with him. Her rage suddenly flared again at that last thought. Who did Potter think he was, doing that? Just like he did with the kiss. He thought he could do anything he wanted, and just forget about anyone else. What a fathead!

"I don't want _you_ to make him apologise," Lily shouted back, rounding on James. "You're as bad as he is."

James couldn't believe his ears. "What?" he yelped. "I'd NEVER call you a – you-know-what!"

"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can – I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK." Frustrated to the very core, Lily turned on her heel without another word, and hurried away to her friends again. There was no way she was going to involve herself with any of _them_ anymore. 

She ignored Potter's shouts, not faltering in her stride until she reached her friends.

~*~

"Evans!" James shouted fruitlessly after her. "Hey, EVANS!"

But she didn't look back.

"What is with her?" said James, trying and failing to look as though this was a throwaway question of no real importance to him. 

"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited, mate." said Sirius.

"Right," said James, who now looked and felt furious. Snape was always there when something went wrong with him and Evans, and once again it had happened and caused an even further rift between him and Evans. Stupid 'death eater in training' Slytherin. "right –"

There was another flash of light, and Snape was once again hanging upside-down in the air.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"

Sirius and the surrounding crowd practically shouted their eagerness, but after sneaking a look at Evans who was walking back down to the castle with her friends, James suddenly lost all interest. He had just _asked_ Evans out, (accidentally of course), and she had turned him down. All that pining after her, all that watching her realising how incredible she was, _and she turned him down_. What was he to do now? She'd never look at him again as a person let alone a friend or a boyfriend, especially if he hexed Snape now. Knowing her, she'd find out if he had done something to Snape after she had left, and that would just make everything worse. 

James set his jaw determinedly, and lowered his wand slightly. He would prove to her that he wasn't cocky or immature. He would show her that he was the only guy for her …

… He would win her over.

With another flick of the wand, he made his decision and let Snape fall back down to the ground with a thump; robes still upended over his face, and underpants on for show.

"Get out of here _Snivelly_." sneered James, looking distastefully at Snape as he fumbled out of his robes. "As if I'd want to be haunted for the rest of my life, knowing I'd seen past Snivellus Snape's undies."

And with that, he stalked off towards the castle, ignoring Sirius's following protests that they'd missed their golden opportunity.

Under his breath, he grumpily replayed Evans' harsh words to himself. "Right … so I stop messing my hair up …" he mumbled, snorting his displeasure, "though Fiona had no complaints … hmmph … and what else …  oh yeah, that darned snitch will have to go, as well as me hexing Snape and everybody in the hallways …" He trailed off slowly and he scowled.

"I can't help hexing people though." James admitted reluctantly, faltering in his stride as he passed a group of fourth year students who were eyeing him with fear. He scoffed. "She hasn't got any self control over that issue anyway."

He gave a self-satisfied smirk at that rather pleasing thought, and made a mental note to inform her on that little fact. Anything to get his mind of the fact that he had unintentionally asked her out in front of an entire crowd of people, and been rejected yet again.

~*~

Although Sionell and Bella had heard the entire shouting match between Lily and Potter, they walked alongside her in silence, reaching their dorm in a matter of minutes.

They both watched as Lily tossed down her bag by her bed, walked into the bathroom and emerged a few minutes later in some of her muggle clothes. Eventually, she stopped to look back at her two now very concerned friends.

Sionell was the first to speak. "So I guess we now know that he really does like you."

"What?" Lily frowned, still clueless, which for her was quite unusual, but given the fact that she'd never been in that kind of situation before, it wasn't entirely her fault. 

Lily carefully folded her clothes up by her bed, her hands shaking slightly.

"He asked you out didn't he?" Sionell continued on, looking at her expectantly. "Not in the best fashion, but the same old question was still there-" 

"-Oh my gosh."

Lily suddenly sank down onto her bed, half dazed. Suddenly, everything finally came into perspective for her. Sionell was right. Potter wasn't doing all this to embarrass her or to play another prank on her …

… Potter liked her. That kiss, the pranks, all the staring …

The staring? Lily straightened up quickly. That wasn't just for some prank to be pulled on her … it was because he liked her … liked watching her … 

_"Go out with me_."

His words rang through her head. He always did grab at the wrong opportunity for things, didn't he? Kissing her when she least expected it, blurting out after that first encounter with Severus that he wanted to get to know her … gods, even before that … when he had asked her to the Ball.

Did he like her all the way back then? He must have … how clueless had she been? The signs were all there, all this time.

"Lily?"

Lily mumbled some sort of an unintelligible response before planting her face into her pillow. She didn't like Potter back, how could she? He had made her life miserable for five, long years. He played pranks on her, tormented her, and always made her feel confused about everything, ie; that damn kiss. Geez, the first time she had ever met him, he had played a practical joke on her that had lasted in her mind for five years!

Surely he didn't expect her to go out with him, just like that? Wasn't the kiss enough? Wasn't it enough that he had stolen her first kiss? Wasn't it enough for him that she had been so affected by the kiss? 

Lily suddenly felt so confused and betrayed by her emotions. She knew Potter was an immature jerk … she knew that every conversation she ever ended up getting into with him had always ended up into an argument … she knew that his very _presence_ made her want to strangle him.

So why was she so affected by his admittance to liking her?

Was it because nobody had every paid so much attention to her before? Because nobody had … Potter was the only one … nobody ever asked her out to a Ball before like he had … or constantly bugged her about the guy she _was _going out with as though he was jealous … and what about the kiss?

The only other guy she'd come close to kissing was a guy that would kiss any girl, just for the chance to have a snog. But, is that what Potter wanted? Or was it more?

Lily furrowed her head deeper into her pillow. But if it was, what was with the whole deal of asking her out as some sort of blackmail material? If he truly did like her, then why'd he have to screw something as simple as asking her out. All it would have taken was a simple, 'please go out with me', not '_go out with me and I'll never hurt old Snivelly again_.' Of course, even if he had done that, she would have most likely turned him down anyway.

Lily groaned into the pillow; her fists tightly clenching by the sides of her face, then she felt one of her friends shake her by the shoulders.

"It's not the end of the world that Potter has a crush on you, you know." She heard a voice say. "I could always try beating it out of him, if you want?"

Despite her predicament, Lily smiled into the pillow. Only Bella would say something like that. After a couple more moments, Lily lifted her head, and lay down on her side to face her two friends; one worried, and the other indignant.

"I can't believe it didn't hit me sooner." She said eventually. "I mean he's been bugging me all year, you'd think I'd at least have had a clue after he- he-"

Lily stopped, before looking hesitantly at Bella. "After he kissed me." She finished guiltily and waited for her explosion. But surprisingly, Bella simply replied,

"This is linked with the time you locked me out of the bathroom wasn't it?"

At Lily's shocked expression Bella nodded. "I thought so. Remus had known the reason why you locked me out, but he wouldn't tell me … and the only reason for that is because it involved Potter too."

Lily sighed. "He kissed me the night before." she admitted apologetically. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I – I just didn't really want anyone knowing how much it embarrassed me. I didn't mean to keep it from you all this time, I -"

Bella cut her off.  "I know, I get it. You were also afraid I'd beat Potter to a pulp."

A beginning of a smile quirked at the corners of Lily's mouth; Bella knew her too well. She went to say something, but again Bella beat her to the chase.

"Don't get me wrong. It hurts to know that you didn't want to tell me. But I … can kinda understand, seeing as I don't tell you all the stuff that Remus and I get up to."

Lily jumped up at that comment. "But Potter and I are nothing like you and Remus." she protested. "We aren't going out, and I most certainly do not want to go out with him in the near future. You saw me with him just before. Relationships don't start with two people wanting to hex each other into oblivion."

"No, I think that Potter now just wants to kiss you into oblivion." Bella pointed out, screwing up her nose slightly at the very thought.

Lily covered her face with both hands and groaned again. "When did he stop hating me, and then start – start-"

"-Liking you?" Sionell guessed.

Nodding, Lily looked up.

"I mean I - I've never even thought about that possibility until now." She admitted. "It's _Potter_ after all … and five years with him hasn't made me like him anymore. I find myself loathing him more everyday."

"Even after this?"

"I don't know." Lily moaned at the two girls. "He's got me so confused right now. _He asked me out as blackmail for Merlin's sake_. How can I like someone like that?"

"As much as I hate to say this, seeing as you know how much I can't stand Potter" Bella started, "but I say that before you say no to him for the rest of your life … you should at least see what he's really like. As in watch how he acts and see if he means what he says."

"What do you mean? I'm not going to start acting like Potter did."

"Well not as obvious as him, because I know that you aren't obsessed in him like he seems to be with you." Bella said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I just mean to wait and see if he ever grows up. Other than that, you don't need to do anything, because it isn't up to you. You _don't_ like him."

"I doubt he'll grow up." Lily mumbled.

Bella continued on, un-phased. "Who knows what you'll find though. You might even see him actually listening to your ramblings … and deflate that head of his."

"Honestly, the day he does that, I'll go – skinny dipping in the lake!" exclaimed Lily without thinking. At Sionell's chuckle, Lily pondered for a moment before adding.

"But I'll listen to you and at least see what he does and how he acts. Maybe if he changes I'll –" she sighed. "-I don't know. I doubt he'll change anyway, so I don't see anything else changing between Potter and I if he remains to act like a child."

"That's all I can ask." replied Bella seriously, but then ruined the image by grinning like a hyena. "Now, I believe we have some free time before going back to the books, so I suggest we go raid the kitchens."

"That's the Bella we all know and love," said Sionell, standing up to give Bella a friendly shove. "I was beginning to worry about you, with all this knowledge about this relationship stuff."

Bella laughed, already heading for the door.

"Dense I might be at schoolwork and all that stuff, but when your with a boyfriend that has a sixth sense about this sort of thing, you kinda get the hang of it after a while."

Not quite listening to the other two girls bicker, Lily copied Sionell and also stood up, feeling slightly more relaxed than before. If Potter truly liked her, it wasn't up to her to do anything. Bella was right. She'd just wait and see how Potter would act. 

It wasn't as though she liked him, so she shouldn't even bother herself with anything even relating to James Potter … especially seeing as it was almost a certainty he'd never change his ways anyway.

~*~

A/N: Damn, without intending to, I made this chapter almost as long as the last, which is saying something. Anyway, please tell me what you think about the whole Pensieve incident, and if it made sense. I hope everybody understood my ramblings on Sirius and Lily. I'm still not entirely happy with this chapter, but I've taken long enough to finish it, so hope you like it!!


	21. A fresh start

DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED 

**Summary:** Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter & up until fifth year James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy … & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind …

**Forewords:** Hey everyone. I'm not sure how many of you who read this story are actually members of my yahoo group, but if you aren't, then you won't know the main reason for me not being able to update for so long. About two weeks ago … or a bit more now, a virus infected my computer and shut my whole computer down. I was unable to access anything on my computer, let along work on my chapter, and I almost lost everything I had, including this chapter and every other future chapter I've planned on posting on ff.net. Fortunately, a couple of days ago, my computer was restored and I was able to recover everything!! Yay!! Well, anyway, that's my excuse, and I'm real sorry that you have had to wait for so long. You won't have to wait that long again.

**IMPORTANT**!

Recently, I've been re-reading everyone's suggestions on the situation with Arabella Figg, and that she is in JK Rowling's reality, a squib. Well here's my solution. Arabella Figg (Bella) in my story can just be the niece of Arabella the squib. So the background for that could just be that Bella's mother named her daughter after her sister because of the whole squib thing. Is that satisfactory enough, so I can rule out that non-ootp compliant fact? I know it has been a constant problem for people reading and reviewing.

Anyway, I also have to apologise for not thanking the people who reviewed chapter nine. I was planning on doing it, but then I became extremely busy. So I'll just briefly thank those who reviewed:

MPPSexySiriusJames, Katina Wellson, kiwi, PhOeNiXReBiRtH, Grated Cheese, Panda10s, Jade_Moon, SoulAvenger, KristiexxNguyen, khel-shaye, chicKaboom, Mercds, On-A-Rainy-Day, LisBleu, Jedusor, BlueEyedWildmage, magee, Hufflepuff1324, carmenel, moony391, Liz, Drops-Of-Winter, Whystical, Melissa, M, addicted-to-fiction, Pristine 

And as usual, thanks to the other following reviewers from the last chapter:

**Melissa: **_Thank you for reviewing, and I'm glad you liked the chapter. Don't worry, I won't be making Lily's feelings change quickly. Instead you're probably going to want to strangle me, because it will take a long while … more than any other Lily/James fic on here, I think … oops, lol._

**Ruth3: **_Thanks for reviewing again!_

**On-A-Rainy-Day: **_Nah that's alright. I've read that little bit so many times I know how tedious it can get. Anyway, thanks for another review!!_

**MPPSexySiriusJamesRemus:**_ Thanks!!_

**Panda10s: **_Great, thanks for that. I'm glad you enjoyed it._

**Pristine:**_ Lol, thanks. Your making me blush. I'm sorry for the long wait in-between chapters … hope your still around to read this one. Anyway, yeah I agree with you. It may seem a bit unbelievable that Lily's been so dense, but it has happened to me in the past as well … lol. Oh and the bit with Arabella talking about the relationships was intentionally made to be ironic, lol. Like she said, spending so much time with Remus, made some of his knowledge rub off on her._

**HPDisorder:**_ Thank you!! I'm sorry about such a long wait though._

**Alenchic:**_ Thank you!!_

**Hannah: **_Oooh, thank you. You may need to deflate my head after reading your review. Lol, seriously though, I am flattered that you think that (though I think there are better writers than me). I hope you keep on reading, and yay for being an Aussie!! He he. _

**PhOeNiXReBiRtH:**_ Thanks for reviewing, and I'm sorry for making you wait so long!!_

**Whystical:**_ That's ok, I know it wasn't my best chapter. I didn't really like using the whole incident but like you said it is necessary for future parts in my fic. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, and like I said on my club, I'll try and read and review ur fic soon._

**Hannah:**_ Thank you!_

**Misguyded1:**_ Yeah, I think I got a bit carried out in the beginning. Having them fight so much … but from now on, I'm going to focus more on getting them together, rather than keeping them apart, lol. Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you keep on reading and reviewing!_

**Spunkygal14:**_ Thank you!! _

**Firehottie: **_Thanks, sorry for not updating for so long though._

**Super Hero Meg:**_ Thanks for your great review!! I'm glad you think my fic follows JK Rowling … I have had problems with Remus being a prefect instead of James … and the whole Arabella Figg, squib thing. But after reading your review, I figure I'll just make it that this Bella is the Squib's niece, and that Bella's mum named her after her sister or something. What do you think?_

**Drops-of-Winter:**_ lol … what an entertaining review. Anyway, thanks for reviewing again._

**Ayse:**_ Oooh, thank you!! I loved your review!! What are you trying to do to me though?? I reckon my head's that swollen it's gonna need to be deflated soon … like James. Lol, well anyway thanks for reviewing, and I'm really sorry for making you wait so long. I hope you keep on reading and reviewing, so you can tell me what you think!! In answer to your question, since I started this fic before ootp was released, I just made Bella Figg up as being a student with Lily, because I hate using so many original character names. So that when ootp did come out, it kind of screwed up that whole thing, but it's too late to change her name, because I've pretty much established her whole character now._

**OrlandoBloomfan:**_ Thank you, I'm glad you thought it remained true. And from now on, I'll probably be keeping my chapters around this length, so I hope you like it!!_

**Moony391:**_ lol … maybe, but it might take a while (not the slapping part). Thanks for reviewing!!_

**Kathryn:**_ Thanks for reviewing again!! I'm glad you liked it!_

**Marauder by Moonlight:**_ Thanks for reviewing again!! And I can't say I blame you for skipping out on most parts that were re-written from the book. The only reason I did so, is because it is necessary for future chapters … laying a foundation like someone's review said. Anyway, thanks again, I'm trying to keep as real to the book as I can, with some exceptions of course._

**Lacey:**_ That's alright. I'm glad you reviewed. I hope you keep on reading._

**Abrian:**_ Lol, sorry for making you wait so long._

**WinterWonderland02:**_ Sorry bout that. Here's the next chapter (finally)_

**BBL-G:**_ Thanks for reviewing. I'm pretty relieved that you and other people reviewing don't hate my original characters … including Bella. And don't worry Lily will lighten up … in a while._

**LimeJuiceTub:**_ Thank you for reviewing. I'm glad you think I have a good storyline going on, and that I'm not rambling on about nothing all the time … sometimes I doubt myself, lol._

**HarryPotterCrazy:**_ Thank you. Ever since reading Ootp, I've tried to keep it as real to the book as possible without changing my original plot!! So I'm glad you like it!!_

**Some12:**_ That's alright. Thanks for reviewing now, and sorry for the long wait._

**OutOfMyMind:**_ lol, yeah I feel the same way about long chapters … but it's harder when I'm the one writing them, he he. Anyway thanks for reviewing._

**Becky:**_ Sorry for making you wait so long. I've had good reasons though, as I've explained in my author's notes. Once again, I'm really sorry, and it won't ever be that long in-between updates._

**CHAPTER** **TWENTY-ONE**

~A fresh start~

Perhaps it had been the enormous overload on her brain due to too much studying … or the whole Potter-having-feelings being bludgeoned into her, but that night after a late night cramming session, Lily found herself having the strangest dream. She was in the Great Hall for a transfiguration exam, but nobody else except her was present. Whilst sitting down at the only desk there, she was told by the table that she was to start her exam – and then a billowing cloud of smoke popped in front of her, and out came Potter … in a suit of armour? With a rubber sword flopping in one hand and a quill in the other, James politely asked her if she would transfigure his quill into a horse, so that he could ride off with her into the sunset. She told him that he was nuts and went on to transfigure her rabbit into a hat – then James started shouting at her telling her she had failed the exam and in horror she began to fall off her seat …

… and then suddenly she woke up, on the ground and tangled up in her bed-sheets and curtains, which had somehow been ripped off of their hangings.

With a sigh, Lily rested her head back onto the ground, and pulled out her arms from the mess to tiredly rub at her eyes. She couldn't quite recall the dream she had just had to make her fall out of bed with that force, but for some strange reason she couldn't recall … she had an odd feeling it had to do with Potter … especially when a flash of Potter holding a floppy sword came into her mind.

Not bothering to move yet, Lily shook her head, wryly. Why must Potter invade every part of her life? She couldn't even have a dream without his face barging into her peace and quiet. Although it wasn't entirely an unpleasant face, she had to admit reluctantly, the personality behind that face or the attitude in particular was what made him comparable to a … she couldn't even think of something that was adequate to describe him. He was truly unique that way … truly _irritably _unique.

"That's a handy way of vanishing into thin air," Bella suddenly commented, who was watching on in amusement from her position in bed. It was rather an amusing moment to see Lily wrapped up like a cocoon in her bed hangings and sheets. "Think I'd pass if I tried that on my iguana today?"

That spurred Lily into action. Within seconds, Potter was forgotten and there was a flurry of bed sheets thrown into air, as Lily managed to simultaneously disentangle herself and stand up at the same time.

"Oh my gosh," she said hurriedly, searching for her school robes. She eventually found them underneath her blanket, which had been thrown up onto her bedside table. "I can't believe I almost forgot about the exam … what time is it?"

"Relax, sleeping beauty." This time it was Sionell who spoke up. She, too, was still lying in her bed, but watching Lily as she began to get dressed. "For the –" she sleepily turned to Bella with a yawn.

"Sixth," Bella supplied promptly, giving a yawn of her own.

"For the sixth time this week," Sionell repeated, nodding her thanks to Bella. "It isn't even time for breakfast, let alone getting out of bed to do an exam."

"Sun's not even up." Bella added, mumbling through her pillow as she rolled onto her stomach. Lily looked over to the window, and realised with embarrassment that they were right; the sun was far from rising.

"Yeah," said Sionell, propping herself up on her elbows. "So how about you tell us exactly why you decided that the floor was more comfortable then your bed, before letting us go back to our peaceful sleep?"

"What?" Then Lily shook her head vaguely. "Ah – no, I don't actually remember it all … just little bits … I think it had to do with exams … but then Potter's face does pop up though … wielding a quill or sword … something. Nothing of real importance anyway," she added quickly.

Bella chortled loudly, and lifted her head to look back at Lily. She shook her head. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," she said, and Lily watched her fall back onto her pillow and close her eyes. 

Sionell did the same with a sleepy "Wake me up when the sun comes up."

Lily rolled her eyes good-naturedly, and turned to her transfiguration books for some more studying. Already Bella's light snores filled the room as she turned the first page of her transfiguration textbook. 

Nothing else was said or thought about Lily's mysterious dream. Instead, she spent the next few hours pouring over her books, only stopping to have a quick breakfast, before she headed off for hers, and the rest of fifth year's exam.

By the time her Transfiguration exam was due to start, she had forgotten the dream had ever occurred.

~*~

"D'you reckon it mattered that I left the iguana's eyes visible?" Bella asked Lily, as they walked alongside each other, exiting the Great Hall

Lily stifled a chuckle. "It does, when you somehow managed to magnify them to twice the size they were meant to be," she replied, smiling slightly. "Too bad you couldn't perfect the Swelling charm in our previous exam."

Arabella scowled at that. "I envy Sionell," 

Lily gave her a questioning look.

"Why?"

"Her last name starts with a P, so she didn't have to do any of the practical exams at the same time as you," explained Bella, throwing a dirty look over her shoulder to where Sionell was probably still waiting to do her exam. "How am I supposed to keep any of my mistakes secret from Miss I-can-vanish-all-my-Iguana?"

This time Lily laughed out-loud and linked arms with Bella. "Tell you what," she said lightly. "It was nothing compared to what Louise did in Divination the other day … imagine telling the examiner that _he_ was going to become pregnant in a weeks time with triplets …"

~*~

For the Marauders', the Transfiguration exam also passed without any catastrophe's, excluding poor Peter who also ended up vanishing half his foot. Luckily though, he had been able to hide it until he had met up with the other Marauders.

So a few hours after the exam, when Peter's foot had reappeared, the four Marauders snuck off through the hump-backed, one-eyed witch to Hogsmeade to buy some reinforcements for the end-of-exam party that would be staged later in the common room.

"Y'know," Sirius started conversationally, as they began climbing up the steps. "I can't believe we've only got two more years before we leave Hogwarts … I'm gonna miss it."

James nodded his agreement, understanding that apart from his visits to James' home in Godric's Hollow, Sirius only thought of Hogwarts as his real home.

"I'm gonna miss using all these secret passageways to go everywhere …" James said softly.

"… terrorising Filch and Mrs Norris …"

"Romping around the grounds on every full moon …"

"Not to forget pranking the Slytherins'," Peter added. 

"You'd think that we'd be leaving tomorrow," Remus commented, shaking his head. "by the sounds of your complaining. Next I'll have to bring out the tissues."

"Nah," James argued. "Its just from now on, there's going to be more than just worrying about who to hex or prank or who the most popular people are."

And since yesterday afternoon, he'd been thinking about it a lot. Evans was right about things. He did consider himself to be above everyone else sometimes … he'd always had reason for it too … Quidditch seeker … captain … prefect … a Marauder … and according to some girls, a 'chick-magnet' too … 

Now that he thought about it all though, he realised that there was more to living than that, and when he would graduate, he knew he would rather have a solid and stable life, than one that depended on his popularity or how he treated people. He didn't want to lord his success over anybody like Voldemort was doing all over the wizarding world at the moment.

What he wanted didn't even have anything to do with how he was acting. What he wanted was to become an auror like his father. He was getting absolutely nowhere by having such a big head like he did now. It wasn't worth anything anyway … Evans cared little for all those insignificant things … like his popularity or talent on the Quidditch pitch … and look how successful she was.

"This doesn't have anything to do with what Evans said to you," Sirius asked, grinning suddenly. "Does it?"

Lucky, James thought, that they're in the darkness, as he flushed a crimson red. "No," he said a loud. "There's also the fact that I – I  know my parents are going to want me to study more to become an auror like my father is … they want me to grow up … and stop getting so many detentions." He added ruefully.

Sirius snorted. "Fat chance you got of that happening." He said, "You almost equal me in that respect."

"I know," James sighed.

"This _has_ got something to do with Lily though," Remus asked, "doesn't it?"

James was silent for a few moments, and then exhaled heavily. "Yeah," he admitted. "What she said to me yesterday …"

"Is that why you shoved the snitch in your sock drawer yesterday?" guessed Peter.

"Hmmm." James' voice was noncommittal as he continued to climb up the winding staircase. 

"Seeing as you've bollocks'd it all up now by revealing to Evans that you fancy her," said Sirius. "You might as well at least talk to her again … who knows, maybe if you remove the whole Snivellus bit, she might say 'yes' this time."

James grumbled, "Yeah right." 

"You've got nothing to lose now," Remus added wryly. "So you might as well just swallow your pride and approach her. She's not gonna bite."

"That's what you think," James mumbled softly, but nonetheless began to think about it. In the end, he decided to talk to her that night during the party. 

At least with a few butterbeers in her, she wouldn't be able to pack a punch like she usually could, he thought ruefully.

~*~

After later meeting up with Sionell, who had managed to go through the exam without any major catastrophe's like Bella, the three girls joined the rest of their house for the end-of-exams celebration in their common room.

In a scene reminiscent to the Quidditch Cup win little less than a month ago, which Lily had only spent a couple of hours at, it took only moments before the Gryffindor common room was packed to the limit with Honeydukes lollies, Zonko's pranks and gaudy decorations thrown around the room. This time, though, Lily relaxed enough to enjoy it. Having the exams over was a huge weight lifted over her shoulders, so for once she could just act like any normal person - muggle or magical – and party the night away.

Smiling at that thought, Lily grabbed herself and Bella and Sionell a few bottles of butterbeer before joining them in their special seat by the fireplace. 

After accepting her butterbeer, Sionell waved her arm over in the Marauder's direction, who were trying - with their wands - to direct their fireworks through an acrobatic course. They were, of course, failing miserably, and at that moment the girls looked over, somebody's cloak was thrown over to Sirius to extinguish the fire that had started on his pants.

"Think we can drag them over for a dance?" asked Sionell, casually watching as her boyfriend was then doused by a shot of water coming out of Remus's wand.

"Well they do seem to be on fire tonight …" Lily commented with a straight face, though a smile was threatening to tug at her lips. Bella and Sionell stopped to look at Lily, and then the three burst out laughing simultaneously.

Bella was the first to call out to the boys, "Get your butts over here, and dance with your girlfriends!"

To Lily's surprise, all four abandoned their firework Olympics to join the girls. Though slightly awkward for Lily and James for a while, soon the two groups began to relax around each other and for a few hours, they shared jokes, lollies and in Lily's two friends case … kisses with their boyfriends. Lily even managed to strike up a conversation with Potter about the Transfiguration, which in itself was quite a remarkable feat, seeing as it didn't end in a major argument.

With all the romantic sloppiness going on around Lily though, it wasn't long before Remus unsurprisingly asked Bella for a dance, and Sirius with Sionell, so Lily was left alone with Potter and Pettigrew.

Pettigrew looked around nervously, and then hesitantly asked, "Do you – uh want to dance … Lily?"

Feeling slightly daring and ignoring Potter's dirty look, Lily graciously accepted, and soon they were 'bopping to the beat' as Bella always liked to call it. Lily found that Peter wasn't too bad a dancer, and she found herself lost in the magical music that was sweeping across the room.

After a while, the first slow song of the night popped up, and Lily found herself facing a pink Pettigrew.

"No offence – Lily, but I really don't like slow songs." Peter said quickly.

"Don't worry, Peter," she assured him over the noise. "I don't much like slow songs either."

Then laughing, she began to push a relieved Peter back to their couch where Potter was still sitting, but talking with a couple of sixth years. She didn't notice that when they waded through the dancers that Potter had stopped talking to look at her.

When they reached their seat, Lily turned to look at her two friends, who were dancing closely with their boyfriends. She smiled wistfully, off in her own daydream when an unfamiliar voice shocked her out of it.

"Ev- Lily … willyoudancewithme?" 

Lily spun around, and almost gaped in shock.

James stood behind her, holding out a hand and looking remarkably mature for someone whose hair had caught fire only hours before. Lily only briefly noticed that though, because she realised he sounded so unfamiliar because he called her by her first name. He'd hardly ever done that before … she gulped nervously.

"Will you dance with me … just once?" he repeated again, now looking a bit unsure.

Stealing a look towards her friends quickly, Lily caught Bella's eyes, and saw the brief nod that she gave her.

"Um … sure," replied Lily, taking James's accepted hand with her own shaky one. Potter looked surprised, but didn't say anything as they found a spot amongst the other dancers.

James gently placed his hand on Lily's waist, the other still in Lily's hand, and together they began to dance slowly, Lily's eyes roaming around anywhere but directly at James, who was looking down at her.

"So …" James cleared his throat, and Lily looked up, her eyes catching James' own sparkling hazel ones. "This – uh remind you of another time?" His eyes took on a more mischievous look at that.

"Ah, yes the Ball." Lily nodded quickly, then smiled as she pretended to look around. "Though I don't see any pumpkin juice handy."

James threw his head up at that and laughed. "Don't forget those dastardly high heels that you wore on the night." At Lily's confused look he added painfully. "You might not remember them, but my foot sure does."

This time, Lily overcame her shyness and laughed as well, but stopped when James cleared his throat reluctantly. 

"I – I want you to know … that I me-meant what I – what I said back at the - lake." James broke off uncomfortably to lift his hand from Lily's waist and rake his hand through his hair. "Just – I didn't mean for it to … come out in that – way."

"Which way?" Lily demanded, her anger getting the better of her timidness again. "The way how you tried to _blackmail _me into going out with you."

"I didn't mean to blackmail you … it just came out."

"Yeah, when you were bullying Se-Snape," she retorted. "Just like the time you asked me to the Ball, and when you said you wanted to get to know me better … everything happens after you've pranked Snape or talked about him … are you sure you aren't just jealous of Snape?"

James exploded. "It's just I don't want you with him, when there – there's obviously someone better for you."

Lily's voice was soft. "And that someone is you?"

"Ye- No … I don't know … but don't you want to give us a chance?"

"No offence, Potter," said Lily, slowly. "but I've spent five long years loathing even the very sight of you. I - might have put a few things that happened between us in the past behind me … but I'm not ready to start whatever – it is that you want. I doubt we'd be able to keep up a friend status … and I don't think I'm ready for anything more anyway."

"Is it because of what you said by the lake?" he asked.

"What?"

"All that stuff you said you hated about me … if I change, will you go out with me?"

"You can't just change like a snap of your fingers," Lily replied wearily. "You have to _want_ to mean it … and not just do it to impress someone." She sighed. "I can see it in you that you could be really great – if you just stop being so arrogant and egotistical all the time."

The song came to a finish, most couples breaking off to go and sit in their respective seats, but James didn't let Lily go. Both hands went to rest on her waist, as they continued to stand there. Lily could see out of the corner of her eye that both Sionell and Bella had stopped dancing with their significant other and were now looking over at her and Potter.

"Well I will," James said stubbornly. "Change, that is. You'll see, Lily Evans_. I will_ _win_ _you_ _over_."

His last words carried over the common room and Lily flushed as everyone else's heads turned in their direction. As the next song began, she abruptly pulled away from James' grip and took a step back.

"I uh - have to go," she mumbled, looking down at the ground before retreating back to her dorm.

~*~

It was a week after the Gryffindor party and darkness had fallen over Hogwarts; the only people visible outside were two lone students, who were lying alongside one another in the middle of the Quidditch Pitch. A couple of broomsticks lay unmoving a few yards next to them.

Sionell rolled onto her side to face Sirius. "I let you win, you know," she said finally.

Sirius turned his head, a smug grin directed straight at her. "Sure you did," he said lightly, then shifted his gaze to the sky in mock admiration, "All three times … must have been hard, working to lose against me."

"I'm not a Keeper," Sionell insisted stubbornly, pelting Sirius with one of her Quidditch armguards. She had now moved to a sitting position and was crossing her arms imperiously. "and you're really not meant to direct a Quaffle at me with those Beater bats, y'know."

Not bothering to answer, Sirius instead skilfully threw the armguards over to his broomstick, and proceeded to pull Sionell closer, until she was resting directly atop him. Before she had time to squeal her disapproval, he silenced her with a long, lingering kiss, before pulling back and grinning again, albeit rather goofily and crookedly this time.

"That make up for it?" asked Sirius, wagging his eyebrows. 

Sionell impetuously leaned forward for another kiss, before shifting beside Sirius. "For now," she smiled, looking back up at the sky, where all the stars were out for show. 

"You're such a dog sometimes." She then went on to joke as she saw Sirius's star directly above her.

Sirius's head shot up in shock. "What?"

"I could have sworn you smiled like dogs do … you know with their tongue kinda hanging out," Sionell laughed, trying to demonstrate, but then she gave up and pointed to the sky. "Not to mention your named after the _dog_ star."

"Uh – yeah," Sirius laughed too and relaxed back into the ground. "Pretty ironic."

Sionell continued on. "You know what else is pretty ironic … Potter falling for the one girl who is immune to his charms."

"Well," said Sirius, carefully. "Now that this whole James lusting after Evans' thing is out in the open, what do you reckon she thinks about it?"

"Hmm," considered Sionell. "Now that you mention it … I think Lily's trying to shove it as far as she can into the backburner … Since the party, she's been avoiding Potter as much as humanly possible."

"A nice way of saying she hates him?"

"Not exactly," Sionell conceded thoughtfully. "She's just not used to the knowledge of a guy so obviously after her … she's pretty shy if you know what I mean … you should have seen her after he kissed her that time … "

"Then James is going to have a job on his hands, isn't he?"

"Oh yeah."

"He's not going to give up though, you know." Sirius added.

"I know … and don't worry, I'm not gonna stop him …" she smiled, and Sirius took a-hold of her hand. "It could be good for her."

A comfortable silence fell for a few moments as Sirius continued to hold Sionell's hand. Finally, when it became too dark to see each other's face anymore, they came to a mutual decision and stood up, Sirius holding Sionell's broom as well as his own.

It was only when they began moving off to the castle that Sionell softly bumped Sirius's shoulder and said, "I want a rematch later."

"Your on."

~*~

"You know I almost forgot to tell you … I gave Lily some advice about Potter." Bella commented, walking hand-in-hand with Remus through one of the empty corridors of Hogwarts.

"Really?" Remus looked amused. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why isn't James dead yet?"

Bella hit him with her other arm. "Very funny," she drawled sarcastically, then sighed. "But no, it wasn't a method for killing Potter – I've got quite a lot of them actually … what I told her was not to discard Potter's feelings for her … not until she actually found out what he was like."

"Wow," exclaimed Remus, smiling slightly. "That's rather mature of you!"

"I know," Bella moaned theatrically. "You've been a bad influence on me … where's that pissed off girl gone to? I haven't hexed anyone in months!"

"Apart from those Ravenclaws'?" Remus queried mischievously.

Bella gasped. "You knew?"

Remus nodded and Bella let out a short laugh. "Ok … apart from them … but still …"

"Well," Remus breathed softly, their noses touching slightly as he looked directly at Bella. He smiled. "I happen to like both 'you's', so you can revert back to either whenever you like."

"Oh, how can I possibly be pissed-off when you are around." She cooed, then looked disgusted at herself. "You're making me into such a sap!" she complained, shaking her head but nonetheless leaning forward for a kiss.

Remus blushed slightly as they pulled back from one another, minutes later. Bella smiled and squeezed his hand as they resumed their walking.

"Think they've got a chance?" Remus asked unexpectedly as they passed the prefects bathroom. 

Bella snorted, immediately catching on as she too saw the entrance to the prefect's bathroom. "Those two who are almost as stubborn as each other?" she asked. "I'd say hell would freeze over before Potter becomes Lily's ideal match …" She stopped to think for a moment. "But there is a possibility – I guess … if Lily doesn't hex his body into the next century, that is…"

~*~

In no time at all, their last month of fifth year at Hogwarts came to an end, and they were carted away on the Hogwarts Express to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, for another summer.

That trip, the Marauders and the three girls shared a compartment together; Sionell and Bella joining the boys in conversation and Lily sitting back and watching the scenery fly by in silence. As usual, she was apprehensive about returning to her family, more-so this time though, because of the whole letter incident with Petunia. She hoped Petunia would be more understanding now that she was working on her own future with some new boyfriend called Vernon. She sighed, then began to pull out a book to read for the rest of the trip.

When the Hogwarts Express finally reached Kings Cross Station, Lily was quickly lost amidst the throng of people rushing to get off the train. Just before she went to get off the train, she found Sionell and Bella and made her goodbyes, since she'd be meeting her parents outside the platform.

After a particularly tearful group hug, Lily climbed down from the train and onto the platform. As she did, she caught sight of Potter's head just a few feet in front of her. As if in slow motion and Potter could feel her gaze, his head turned around and his eyes sought out Lily. 

They stared at each other for a few moments; Lily's eyes narrowed in suspicion, and James' merely thoughtful. When a smile started to creep up on James' face, Lily abruptly tore her eyes away with a small noise of frustration, her face slightly flushed, then purposely began to pull her trunk across the station and over to the place where she'd be meeting her parents.

At least she wouldn't have to put up with his annoying presence at home, she thought, pasting a smile on her face as she walked through the barrier.

~*~

A/N: And that ends the chapter. Nothing of real importance was in this chapter, but next one, I'm starting Lily and James' holidays. I thought I would also warn that from now on, this story is going to take on a slightly darker tone, including that of the rise of Voldemort, and issues of discrimination and prejudices.

Anyway, please review to tell me what you think … oh and I was also wondering when everybody thinks Sirius ran away from home. He said he was sixteen when he ran away, but that can either mean he ran away in-between fifth & sixth year, or in-between sixth and seventh year? What do you all think? I'm slightly leaning towards fifth and sixth, because of future chapters, but I want to follow JK Rowling as much as possible.


	22. Drawbacks

_DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED_

**Summary:** Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter & up until fifth year James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy … & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind …

**Forewords:** Hey everybody, thanks for your comments on the last chapter. Like I originally thought, I decided that Sirius will run away in-between fifth and sixth year … which is now, lol. Well anyway, what a treat for all of you … I've updated within a month!! Wow!! Lol.

Well anyway, I said this already on my yahoo group, but I would have updated sooner if not for the absolutely atrocious hot weather I seem to be having at home.

As usual, thanks to the following reviewers (which by the way I spent slaving over to respond, not that I mind of course):

**Soul-Avenger:**_ Thanks for reviewing, and for your opinion on when Sirius ran away. I felt pretty much the same so like I said above, I'll have him run away now just before he starts sixth year. Anyway, this chapter will answer your question to whether or not Lily and James will see each other this holidays. I think you might like it._

**Prongsigurl:**_ Yeah, thanks, that's what I pretty much thought too. But I just wanted to check with everyone reading, just in case. Glad you like my fic so far._

**Firewalker32:**_ Thank you!!_

**On-A-Rainy-Day:**_ No, that's alright. That's what I thought as well, I just wanted to make sure. Thanks for reviewing again._

**Marina:**_ Wow, that long! I'm shocked I've had people read it from the beginning. And that's alright for not reviewing sooner. No time like the present, so thanks. Hope you continue to read and review!_

**Kathryn:**_ Thank you, and may I say that I am soooo glad the virus is gone from my stupid computer. It caused me so much grief I almost threw my computer across the room at one stage, lol. Anyway, I'm glad you've noticed James' gradual change. He'll hopefully be deflating that head of his soon, don't ya reckon?_

**PhOeNiXReBiRtH:**_ Suffering is my middle name … well no, not really, but I can definitely do a little thing like make James suffer for a while. And believe me I am. They have a lot to go through before I get them together, let me tell you that, lol. Anyway thanks for reviewing again, and thanks about my computer._

**Dk Lili:**_ Thank you!_

**HPDisorder:**_ Great, glad you agree. I was worried people might think that it might take the attention away from Lily and James … which it won't by the way. Anyway, sorry for taking so long to review. I updated this one sooner to make up for it. Hope you like it._

**Drops-of-Winter:**_ Yeah, Lily and James don't date until seventh year, but the events leading up to that will be satisfying enough. I promise you there will be some action during their sixth year. So don't worry … and thanks for reviewing again. Oh and I too am very, very pissed off that Sirius is dead. Everytime I write a new chapter for my 6th year HP story, I find myself cursing JKR for killing him off!_

**Jac:**_ lol, ok here's more, and thanks for reviewing!_

**BlueEyedWildmage:**_ lol, well doesn't matter, thanks for reviewing anyway. Glad you think it's getting better. Lately, I've been feeling as though I've lost my touch … lol._

**Eowyn: **_lol, I'm sorry, but unfortunately I'm not well known for updating daily or weekly. This is probably the earliest update I have made for a while actually, so I hope you like this chapter!! I made it a bit longer than the last. Oh and of course, thanks for reviewing so much by the way!! And also for the holidays info. I still wasn't entirely sure on the dates, so it did help me … I can't believe how different it is from my own holidays here in Australia._

**Laurana Starbreeze:**_ lol, wrong house … I hadn't thought of it. I don't think that will be happening though, as funny as it would be. I have a feeling that Sirius has spent time at James' place before. Thanks for reviewing, by the way._

**Ladyla:**_ Well, the book says James deflated his head a bit, and stopped hexing people just for the fun of it, so he basically just matured … and nothing like having some catastrophe to make James mature into the young man Lily falls in love with, lol. Thanks for reviewing._

**Potts: **_Thank you, and I will!_

**MPPSexySiriusJamesRemus:**_ Yeah, that's what I thought too, so I'll be doing that. Thanks for reviewing._

**Diana:**_ Yeah, sorry about doing that. I hope this chapter makes up for it. It's much, much sooner than the last._

**Me! (aka Padma):**_ Well at least he got to see her, lol. And you never know what's going to happen these holidays … well actually you'll find out a bit this chapter. I won't tell you too much, but there might be a possibility that James will see a bit of his Lily this summer … anyway, thanks for reviewing. I enjoyed reading what you said!_

**Spiffy Pixie:**_ 3 days? Lol, that's a long time. Glad you're still around, and I hope you like this newest instalment. Thanks for reviewing … and I definitely agree, Sirius is a hottie. Well he just seems to be one, in my opinion anyway. _

**MaraudersAreMyGods:**_ Wow, thank you. I'm glad you think so highly of it! Like what many other people said, I agree with you on the fact that Sirius ran away in-between fifth and sixth._

**Mercds:**_ Thank you, thank you, thank you! I loved your review. I didn't think there were that many words to describe my fic, lol. Nah, really, I appreciate what you said in your review. I do try hard not to rush things, and to show the whole transgression between James' and Lily's feelings for each other … well not so much for Lily at the moment, but don't worry it'll happen._

**Er_bear:**_ Thank you, and don't worry I won't be finishing the story until the end of their 7th year. So there's a long way to go. And about James' parents, well you'll see a bit of them this chapter. Hope you like it._

**Zane Lupin:** _Hey thanks for your input. I hadn't really looked at all that info on the Lexicon, but that was what I had come up with as well, so at least I know I'm not the only one who tries to figure out these things, and that I wasn't completely off the mark, lol. And by the way, you know me too well. As you'll see this chapter, the events that lead to the disastrous Shrieking Shack prank do originate from something in Sirius's life. I won't tell you much else though. Like I said, you'll find out this chapter. I hope you like the little twist._

**Whystical:**_ Thank you, I thought it was about time that I wrote some more non-Lily-James parts. I'm glad you liked it, and I completely understand about the whole updating fiasco. It's hard when you've got exams on and all these things to finish. _

**Rauq:** _Yeah, usually I'm pretty picky about my spelling too … but when I write out 4000+ word chapters, I do tend to slacken off a bit. Sorry about that, and thanks for telling me. I'll make sure to fix everything up! Feel free to tell me of any other mistakes if you see them in any other chapters, I don't mind._

**Cotokeet: **_Great to hear. I'm sorry about the inaccuracies but as I've gone so far, I can't really change it now. Thanks for reviewing!_

**Hannah:**_ Here you are. This chapter is a LOT sooner than all my other current updates, lol. Thanks for reviewing_

**PePpEr06:**_ Yay, glad I made a Lily/James fan!! Lol, I'm really honoured that you liked it so much … ooh and don't worry I won't be rushing anything. Like you said, I'll keep going at the really slow pace I've been going since the beginning … which is damn slow, lol. So thanks for reviewing, and I hope you continue to read and review!!  _

**Panda10s:**_ Yeah, sorry about that. I thought if I lost everything on my computer, that I might have had to … but thankfully that didn't happen. Thanks for reviewing again. _

**Singergurlusa:**_ lol, ok. Well thanks for reviewing. I hope this is soon enough for you!!_

**Daedreamer:**_ Oooh, Petunia hasn't even reached her full potential yet. You'll see a bit more of her charming personality this chapter. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, I hope you continue to read and review. _

**Lyka-PrincessOfDarkness:**_ Yeah, unfortunately I did start before ootp, so I've had quite a few people point out to me about the non-ootp stuff … which is quite annoying as it is too late to change now. Anyway, I'm glad that people like you still read it regardless of that little error. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you keep on reading and reviewing!_

**Some12:**_ Thanks … and you're right, I do know what's going to happen this summer. This chapter will explain a bit of their summer, so I hope you like it!_

**Who really cares?: **_lol, well as much I would like to, I haven't entirely followed the book … but I'm glad you liked it nonetheless. Thanks! _

**Axisha: **_Thank you, and I hope this is soon enough for updating!! _

**Galagirl: **_Thanks for reviewing, I'm sorry to hear I made you depressed. Hopefully this chapter will make up for it? lol, seeing as you can now press that button, that is._

**J: **_Great, I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for reviewing!!_

**Leechi:** _Hey, thanks for reviewing, and I'm glad you think that Sirius running away after his fifth year is the most likely. That's what I thought too, but I wanted to make sure everybody agreed with me. Anyway, I appreciate your suggestions on what to put in my story, but without saying too much, I do already have a plan outlined for my future chapters. Thanks anyway!!_ ****

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 

~Drawbacks~

As soon as Lily stepped through the platform, her eyes automatically sought out her family; her mother Marie, father Mark and sister Petunia, who were standing by platform nine.

She sighed, and pushed her trolley through the busy crowd. Although she loved her family dearly, returning home for the holidays wasn't the most pleasant experience for Lily Evans. There was just no avoiding the fact that she would always be different from the rest of the family. Lily Evans was a witch, her family were muggles; there were bound to be complications. It wasn't her parents' fault. They loved her unconditionally, no matter what she was. If anything, they were prouder for her because she was doing something no one in the Evans family had ever done. It was just that her parents would never realise how rocky her relationship with Petunia was for that same reason.

Petunia had always hated anything unexplained … abnormal. Everything had to have its place in the world … _her world_ … and unfortunately Lily didn't fit in it anymore. As she had said to James that night in detention, Petunia hadn't always been like that. Before Lily had discovered her magical heritage, Petunia and her (though quite a few years apart in age) would act like the sisters they were meant to be. Now though, Lily was lucky to spend a meal with her sister, let alone have Petunia willingly talk to her without any snide comments about Lily's supposed 'abnormal behaviour'. 

Trembling slightly as she waved back at her father who had an arm raised in the air to direct her, Lily kept a fake smile on her face, silently telling herself that somehow this summer would somehow be different. That Petunia had finally accepted her for who she was. That Petunia wouldn't care that she was a witch anymore.

Although that was practically impossible, her heart lifted at the thought and she walked towards her parents. Lily had enough of prejudices and discrimination at Hogwarts for being muggleborn; she just didn't think she could cope with the discrimination from her own home anymore. However, as she grew closer, Lily knew that it would never come true. Petunia wouldn't care … would never care. If anything her situation was probably worse. Petunia was glaring at her so fiercely that Lily felt that she was lucky that she wasn't incinerated on the spot. 

Bracing herself slightly, she kept the fake smile on her face to look at her parents who were waving cheerily at her as she reached them. "Hi, mum, dad, Pet-" 

Petunia scowled at this, but her parents beamed happily. They obviously thought that Lily and Petunia had sorted out all their problems since the so-called 'letter'.

"-I missed you all so much," She finished, pushing her way over and stopping the trolley beside her parents.

We're so glad to finally see you again, honey.' Her mother exclaimed tearfully, immediately smothering her in a hug. After leaning in to give her a one armed hug, Lily's father nodded in agreement, before grabbing her trunk and her cat cage.

Petunia snorted softly, declining on her own hug for Lily.

"Yes sister dear, we are _delighted_ that you have graced us with your presence,' she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Unfortunately, only Lily caught her real attitude. She winced, her smile wavering a little as she followed her parents and Petunia over to the car park.

Whilst they were walking towards the car park and asking her about her school year, Lily's father pulled her back so they trailed a good distance away from her mother and Petunia. Lily smiled despite her downtrodden mood. Her father was fascinated and absolutely obsessed in all things magical, especially anything from Zonko's or Honeydukes. When she had returned from Hogwarts the first year she had gone to Hogsmeade and he had seen the packet of Filibuster fireworks, he'd reacted like a little boy; lighting them and letting them go off all around the house.

So every year since, without Lily's mother knowing (she hadn't been as impressed by the fireworks being let off in the house), her father would pull her away somewhere privately and Lily would secretly give him all the latest in pranks and sweets and he would proceed to find a way to use every single one of them before the holidays were up. 

She wasn't disappointed this year. 

"Have you got any new prank items?" her dad asked eagerly, smiling mischievously and rubbing his hands in glee.

Still smiling, Lily wasted no time in pulling out a small box of items she had collected over the year for him. Mark snatched it up with a wink and peeped inside, making his eyes light up even more mischievously.

"I can't wait to try these out on your sister's birthday," he joked, swinging an arm around Lily's shoulders and leading her over to the car.

After being scolded by her mother for taking so long, her parents both climbed into the car. Lily was about to follow suit, but Petunia pushed her roughly to the side, whispering in her ear as she passed.

"Welcome back, freak." Lily winced again. Even without having to worry about Potter watching her every move … this was definitely NOT going to be a good summer.

* * *

Lily spent the first week of her holidays catching up with her family. It was relatively downbeat, just a time for her to 'mellow out' as her father would say. For once, she didn't even have to worry about homework either, due to the OWL's results not being sent home until mid-July. So basically, it was an enjoyable beginning for the summer holidays.

It wasn't until the first weekend at dinner that Lily's life would take a drastic turn. 

It was the first night that her whole family had joined together for a family dinner; her, her parents and Petunia. All other previous nights, Petunia had been at her boyfriend Vernon Dursley's house for much of the time, trying to avoid spending time in Lily's presence.

So there they were eating together, for the first time that holidays. It was of course, quite a tense affair at first. Petunia was slightly sulky at not being allowed to go over to Vernon's and Lily's and her parents refused to budge.

After a while though, once the food had been served, they started acting like a family again. In between her parents asking her about school, Petunia spent the time talking non-stop about Vernon, so Lily merely contented herself with eating dinner silently, only adding to nod to whatever Petunia was saying, not wanting to start anything. 

Reaching dessert, Petunia had otherwise refrained from mentioning anything to do about Lily or her magic, so Lily allowed herself to relax for a while.

It was too much to ask in the end though. Halfway through dessert, a strange looking owl came flying through their open window. Ignoring Petunia's screams and her parents' obvious attempts to subdue her, Lily plucked the offered letter from the owl's grasp and turned it over curiously. The parchment itself was an unusual shade of black, and there was no name on the seal.

Lily felt her curiosity mounting even more at the anonymity of the letter, and gently broke the seal to read through the parchment.

Not even ten seconds later did she drop the letter with a blood curdling scream.

* * *

"Thank you for coming," Mr Evans thanked nervously at his front door, letting some members of the Ministry come in. "We didn't know who to send our message to, and our daughter was in no condition to tell us - so we just sent an owl to the Headmaster at Hogwarts and we weren't sure if anyone was there-"

"Yes, not to worry," one wizard replied gravely, adjusting the glasses that rested upon his nose. "Dumbledore received the letter and contacted us immediately."

Mr Evans flushed in slight embarrassment. "I'm afraid I'm not quite sure who you are exactly, but I do gather you are some sort of policemen?" he guessed.

"Ah, yes. We have heard about these please-men," the wizard said smiling, "We are quite the same, but we're called aurors. I'm Harold Potter." He held out his hand for Mr Evans to shake, and Mr Evans accepted it with a grim smile.

"Mark Evans."

"Right, now down to business. I do believe your daughter was the one to receive the letter." Harold enquired.

Mark nodded, and pointed towards the dinner table, where a pile of ashes still lay, "She read it during dinner and then dropped it onto the table and started screaming." He answered, troubled. "Suddenly it burst into flame and it left that pile of ashes that are still there. We decided not to touch it or anything, in case you wanted to keep it for evidence or something."

Harold Potter motioned for two wizards accompanying him to check out the ashes. He meanwhile, continued to talk to Mark. "Where is your daughter now?"

Mark sighed sadly, "She's upstairs with her mother … I'm afraid she's a bit hysterical. We couldn't get anything out of her about what the letter contained. All she said was to contact someone magical for help."

"Is it alright if I ask her some questions?" Harold asked, glancing around the room. "It's just we only have her account to work on. Unfortunately as the letter was self-destructive, it can't be brought back to its original state."

"Sure, sure …" Mark began to usher him upstairs. "She's just up here." He stopped in front of a doorway and knocked on it gently. Lily's mother appeared from the room but kept it ajar so that Lily was visible on her bed, curled up on one side.

"Harold, this is my wife and Lily's mother, Marie." Mark said, his eyes glued onto the door. Marie followed his gaze, after nodding to Harold quickly. "Can Harold go in there and talk to her?"

"She's calmed down a bit now." Marie said reassuringly, though there was a worried crease lining her forehead. "I'm sure it will be alright if you want to question her now."

At the sound of their hushed talking, Lily looked up through her tears and frowned. The man standing with her parents in the doorway looked bizarrely familiar. Older but familiar. As she tried to figure out who he was, her father re-entered the room with the man. She sat up quickly.

"Lily," her father said gently, "Someone wants to ask you some questions about the letter … if you're ready."

Gulping to ease her anxiety, Lily finally nodded and wiped her eyes shamefully.

"Ok," she replied in a soft voice. Her father motioned for the man to sit down by her table, and she watched in rabid curiosity as the man took out a quoting quill and a parchment.

Soon after, he turned around and his eyes focused kindly onto Lily.

"I'm sorry to have to bother you with all this questioning now," he apologised, setting Lily at ease almost immediately, "But I'm afraid we need all the evidence we can get."

Lily nodded mutely and looked down at the ground.

"Do you have any suspicions who sent that letter to you?"

Cringing, Lily answered in a small voice, "Some supporter of V-Voldemort and h – his death – eaters, I guessed." As a muggleborn, she hadn't yet been afraid to say his name. Now, however was a different story. She found herself shivering slightly.

The man looked up quickly and the action struck her as familiar again. "Was it signed?"

This time Lily shook her head, "No," she replied, "But what – was said in the letter made it seem like it – it was from them."

"What exactly did it say?"

Lily took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she recited the horrible words that were still etched into her mind. "Mudblood's like you aren't going to be around much longer. When the Dark Lord prevails, you will be the first to go – along with your family. Filth like you don't deserve to live."

She took a deep breath before adding reluctantly. "And it had … the – the dark mark on it."

The man sighed sadly. "You do realise that this isn't the first attack on a muggleborn this holidays?" he said softly.

"It isn't?" Lily said in a small voice.

"No … I'm afraid there have been at least two of the same incidents in the past week."

Lily felt slightly better that she wasn't alone in all of this. She didn't really know of many muggleborns. "Who – else was targeted?"

"I believe there was a first and second year, and a seventh year … my son knows the last. He captains the Gryffindor Quidditch team for which the seventh year plays for."

"Oh – wait, y-your James Potter's father?" Lily asked incredulously, sniffling a bit, and momentarily forgetting the whole predicament. All of a sudden, everything seemed to fit together - he was so familiar because he was just an older version of James. He had to be, they looked so similar …

"Yes I am," Harold answered smiling, making Lily gape. She had been right, yet …

"But you're so … nice." Lily blushed slightly after the words escaped her mouth, hoping Mr Potter didn't take it the wrong way. She hadn't meant to say that aloud.

Unexpectedly, he chuckled under his breath, and smiled lopsidedly. It was the same face that James would adopt when he'd played a prank on someone, but somehow on his father's face, it looked more softer, more nicer. Lily found it quite attractive.

"I'm guessing you've been the target of one of his many pranks?" he enquired good-humouredly, and Lily nodded uncomfortably.

"Something like that," she said vaguely. "I'm in Gryffindor too … his year."

"Ah, too close for comfort then," Harold nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, just a bit." Lily admitted, and unwittingly found herself thinking of another reason for the discomfort … one she was sure James' father didn't know.

"Well then," James' father abruptly pulled her out of her thoughts as he stood up from the desk, tucking away his quill and notes. "I believe that you have answered all my questions for now. The only thing left for me to do is to talk to you and your parents to see what we can do to fix this situation."

"Oh, ok." Lily answered, looking confused, and slightly apprehensive. She watched on as Harold let her parents back in, and after they had taken a place on either side of Lily, Harold cleared his throat slowly.

"I know this has come as a shock to you all," he said politely. "And for that I apologise. Up until this holidays, Voldemort and his followers have kept a pretty low profile, and we at the Ministry of Magic never expected this to happen. All we can offer to your family is perhaps a relocated place for you all to live in, somewhere where you would be untraced, but still able to live your lives-" 

"NO!" There was an enraged shout from the doorway. Everybody turned around to see Petunia standing angrily by the door. Mark tried to go over to her to calm her, but she pulled her bony arm out of reach and stuck her chin high into the air. 

"I won't have my life ruined because the freaks are after her." she stated stubbornly.

"But Pet-"

"NO! I don't want to leave here. Vernon's here. My school's here. Why can't she just move away – back to her freaky school or wherever?"

"Petunia, you will not speak about your sister in that way!" their mother chided crossly, tightly hugging Lily, who was looking stricken.

Petunia pointed an accusatory finger at Lily who shrunk back guiltily. "Even after what she's brought to this family? If it wasn't for her and her kind, there would be no danger for us to live here."

Without another word, Petunia stormed off back to her room, slamming the door shut so forcefully that everyone inside Lily's bedroom jumped.

Mark faced the others with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry-"

"That's no problem at all," Harold finally found his voice. "I can understand perfectly. I guess I will take a new location as a no, then?" 

"Yes, we're very sorry." Mark said again, tiredly. He sank back down onto the bed, and wrapped a comforting arm around Lily.

"There are other protections we can employ around this house, if you would prefer?" Harold suggested, taking out another parchment from his robe and offering it to Lily's parents. "Something that remains invisible to the human eye, but nonetheless protects the house from any invaders-"

Lily's mother and father looked at each other over Lily's head and went to study the parchment in front of them. Lily, however, remained seated on her bed, tightly clasping her hands together in front of her. 

What was happening to her life?

* * *

Harold Potter arrived late for breakfast that morning, and by the time he sat down to eat, James was already through his second piece of toast. 

"What happened?" James asked through his mouthful of half-chewed toast. "You left pretty late last night."

Harold shook his head regrettably. "Terrible business," he answered, watching James eat. "Another muggleborn and her family were targeted by Voldemort supporters last night. This time she was from your year." 

James promptly spat out the half chewed piece of toast. "My year?" he repeated, trying to think of all the muggleborns in his year. All he could think of was …

"Evans?" Surely it wouldn't – couldn't have been her.

His father looked slightly surprised that James had guessed it so quick. "Yes," he replied slowly, confirming James' worst suspicions. His head began to spin dizzily. He'd only seen her last week on the train. James frowned unable to convert anything to spoken words. What if she was hurt? What if she had been killed before he could win her over?

It was his mother Flo Potter instead, who thankfully pieced together the right words and ask the question on his mind. "The poor girl isn't hurt, is she?"

James watched on, desperate for an answer. The remainder of his toast lay untouched on his plate.

"No, shaken but unhurt." replied Harold tiredly, making James sigh in audible relief and slump back into his chair. "We're going to have to put some kind of protection charms around their house over the next week to ensure their safety though."

"Why don't you just move them to a safer headquarters?" James demanded, "If they're increasing attacks on all muggleborns and half-bloods, shouldn't they have all the protection they need?"

"That's the problem James. Unfortunately, these people aren't all witches and wizards like us. They are, for the part muggles. They don't completely understand our world as we don't theirs."

"But Evans' family won't mind," James persisted stubbornly. "They'd want to be safe, wouldn't they?"

Harold sighed. "I'm afraid Miss Evans' family was firm in rejecting our help in relocating to a safer place, other than allowing us to place up an anti-apparition ward and other various house protection charms."

"Why?"

"Miss Evans' older sister did not - wish to have her life disrupted by our problems."

"That's only 'cause she's a magic-hater." James blurted out fiercely, remembering what Lily had told him that night.

Harold quirked an eyebrow. "And how would you know that?" he asked sternly, "From what I gather, you have not made a good impression on young Miss Lily Evans."

James looked down, abashed. He wasn't entirely proud of that fact anymore. If he could have, he would have taken away everything he had ever done to Lily, just to get her to like him. 

"Lily Evans, did you say?" His mother suddenly piped up curiously.

"Yes, why?"

"Lily Evans … L … E," she murmured under her breath suddenly, and then pulled out a hardly recognisable piece of parchment from her apron. Smiling, she handed over the parchment to James, who promptly proceeded to knock over his glass of pumpkin juice.

"Mum!" he exclaimed, embarrassed, "I thought I told you not to go into my room."

"I didn't." she replied back, laughingly, still waving around the incriminating parchment "It was in your school bag, _which_ if I do remember correctly, you left down here the other night when you were searching for your quill."

"What is this about, Flo?" Harold enquired, looking at James, who was trying his hardest (and failing) not to turn a beet-red.

"It seems our son here is quite interested in the initials 'LE'." His mum answered cryptically, holding up the note, ignoring James' indignant spluttering. "There are numerous pictures of snitches with 'LE' written inside."

"Ahh," Harold smiled in realisation. "So that's why young Lily seemed a bit uncomfortable talking about you … does she know you have a crush on her?"

James took a large mouthful of toast before mumbling his answer.

"What?"

He swallowed reluctantly and nodded. "Yes she does."

"You're going to have quite a job of changing Miss Evan's opinion about you."

"That's a given, dad … I knew that all along."

* * *

Mr Black looked up from the newspaper with a pleased smile on his face.

"Looks like the Dark Lord is becoming more public," he announced to his family, who were sitting down eating their own breakfast, "He's been having his supporters target various mudbloods from your school, Sirius and Regulus."

Sirius didn't say anything, but a deep scowl set upon his face. Regulus, Sirius's younger brother was less inclined to keep silent.

"Did any of them get killed?" he asked nastily, shooing the family house elf, Kreacher away from his plate of food.

Mr Black shook his head. "Nothing like that, Regulus," he replied. "Not yet … he needs more supporters first."

"Well, why don't we join him?" Regulus said quickly. "There's talk at the school that the Dark Lord's looking for recruits from Hogwarts, and my housemates are planning on it-"

Sirius gripped his fork in a death-grip. "I'm surprised they haven't all joined by now," he drawled sarcastically towards Regulus.

"Not that I'm going to tell a Gryffindork or anything," sneered Regulus, "but it won't be long before _everybody_ who is worth something, joins the Dark Lord."

Mrs Black nodded her agreement. "We can't have our pure blood dirtied any more." She stated primly. "It's absolutely preposterous to let any witches or wizards mingle with muggles … absolutely disgusting … they should all be wiped out before they breed anymore of that filth."

"I can't believe your supporting _his _targets on muggleborns!" Sirius exclaimed angrily, looking around at his parents and Regulus.

"_Mudbloods_ don't need defending, Sirius." Regulus said defiantly, slamming his glass of pumpkin juice on the table. "But seeing as you spend all your time with that scum you wouldn't know."

"Gryffindor aren't scum," Sirius retorted. "It's time you looked in a mirror."

"ENOUGH!" Mrs Black screamed, silencing them both. Regulus looked satisfied as Mrs Black narrowed her eyes at Sirius. "Sirius, you know how we feel about this. If you were sorted into Slytherin like your brother, you would understand all this already, and not besmirch our name like you have been doing ever since you started at Hogwarts."

Sirius laughed hollowly. "Understand?" he repeated. "School houses don't matter. I've lived with you lot my whole life and I _still_ don't understand your twisted ways … so I sure as hell believe I will _never_ understand."

Mrs Black sighed again then said beseechingly. "If you would just befriend a couple of wizards of pureblood status who don't follow that bumbling muggle-loving fool, then you can actually make us proud of you for once."

"Like who?" Sirius challenged darkly. "_Snivellus_ Snape? He may be _pureblood-_" he spat the word in disgust. "-but he ain't worth nothing."

"He's worth more than you," Mrs Black shot back. "He at least upholds his family's ideals and beliefs. You on the other hand …" she trailed off, mumbling to herself. "Consorting with mudbloods and half-bloods …" she shook her head. "The shame of the family …"

She trailed off and Sirius looked around at his family in incredulity. His own father was nodding in agreement with his mother, and Regulus was smirking in triumph.

"Stop always comparing me to Snape," yelled Sirius. "Who care's about what kind of blood he had, and which family he belongs to. He's a snivelling, pitiful Slytherin whose bound to follow _Voldemort_ any day now, because he's too cowardly to do anything but kiss other peoples' arses."

"Sirius!" His mother cried out, but Sirius wasn't finished.

"You show more affection to Snivellus than you do to me, and that's saying something seeing as I AM YOUR SON!" Sirius exploded. "You've only mingled with him and his family at stupid social parties for current and future _death eaters_. You wouldn't have a clue to what he's really like."

Suddenly sick of having to put up with all this from his own family, Sirius stood up abruptly, his chair squeaking in protest as it was slammed back. "I'm going to my room," he sneered distastefully. "So you won't have to be reminded of the _shame of the family_."

As Sirius went to walk away, his father - by orders of his wife who shot him a meaningful look - also stood up. "Don't even think of sending any letters to your _friends_ this summer, Sirius," he warned sternly. "We may have to put up with this attitude of yours, but we will no longer tolerate having any of their lot contacting you while you're in this house. You have an image to uphold for your family and whether you like it or not, you will keep it."

"Tell him not to send anything to his filthy girlfriend too," added Regulus. "She may be of pure blood but she consorts with half-bloods and mudbloods. Even worse than you." He added slyly.

Sirius looked back, shocked as his parents nodded, then snarled. "Fine," he said, before spinning around and stomping his way upstairs. When he reached his room, he slammed the door, breathing heavily and his brain working a mile-a-second. All at once, he came to a decision.

"Fine," he grumbled under his breath, starting to pick up his belongings that were scattered across his room. "Then I'll just run away … see what you have to say to _that_."

* * *

**A/N:** Well, that's chapter 22 over and done with … my favourite number actually, he he. A lot happened this chapter (well I think it did, but don't mind me). I hope it wasn't too rushed or anything. I tried to make it flowing with everything. I also hope you don't mind the direction this story is turning to. I intended to have Voldemort in their sixth year all along. I mean after all, Hagrid did say to Harry in book one that it was in his parents' time that Voldemort really got started. So anyway, like I said last chapter, this is going to be a lot darker than before.

Oh and don't you feel sorry for Sirius? Poor baby. I guess you see one of many reasons why Sirius could hate Snape so much!! What do you reckon?

Lastly, just wondering if anybody could recommend a good site where I might be able to archive my fics? I know there's Schnoogle, but are there any other good places?

Ok well that's it until next time I update. Shouldn't be too long this time around either. Please review to tell me what you all think about this chapter! Oh and just a reminder to invite anybody who reads either of my fics to join my yahoo group. The address is on my author's page.


	23. Clashes of a different kind

**Title:** Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Spoilers: **Written before Ootp, HBP and DH, but contains some spoilers.

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind ...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Forewords:** First, I have to say sorry for the long wait. Unfortunately, for the past two and a half weeks, my computer has been touch and go with some sort of a viewing problem on my screen. I sent it to a computer repair store for two days, and had it returned temporarily fixed until they ordered the piece needed to fix it up properly. Note the word temporarily … the part broke again five days ago, so I've been forced to transfer all my files onto the old family computer, which is where I'm writing this chapter from now. Anyway, the next chapter shouldn't be too long in the coming. Perhaps another 2-3 weeks, but definitely less than a month.

Okay, moving on. I noticed that some people who reviewed believed that the Mrs Black I portrayed didn't seem to be like the screaming portrait in ootp. See there were reasons behind why I wrote her like I did. See, at this time, Sirius is _still_ considered to be family … so Mrs Black wouldn't have been as harsh to him. Sirius said in ootp that his mother burnt his name off the family tree _after_ he ran away, so understandably, Mrs Black would probably have become a bit bitter and nastier later on, because he had supposedly betrayed her and the rest of the Black family. Add in Regulus's death a few years later, and voila … you got the nasty, horrible hag of a woman you saw in her portrait in ootp. Anyway, this isn't the last you see or hear of Mrs Black in the story. Later on, you will all hopefully understand her behaviour. I just thought I'd clear things up a bit.

* * *

**Diametrically Opposed **

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

_Clashes of a Different Kind_

_.._

"Can I come with you to work tomorrow, dad?" James asked as his father went to leave for work that very same morning. "You said that I could accompany you this summer to see what it was like to be an Auror."

Actually, James had rather wheedled his dad into agreeing one night when he had been preoccupied with listening to the Wizarding Marvels (an old classical wizarding music band) on the Wizarding Wireless Radio. But of course that was beside the point as far as James was concerned.

Nevertheless, Harold looked thoughtful as he picked up his Ministry cloak. "That I did," he said, "but it _is_ getting rather dangerous this summer. I don't want anything to happen with you-"

"Let me come. I promise I'll be careful," James pleaded. "It's not as though I'll be out there actively fighting off death eaters or anything."

"We just don't want to lose you," Harold repeated firmly. "This family has already experienced enough losses in this war. I don't think your mother and I could handle anything bad happening to you too." His eyes took on a regretful glaze and he looked older than his years.

"I know, dad," was James' quiet reply as he sullenly looked down at the kitchen bench. He didn't need to be reminded of how many people his family had lost. It was and had always been a sore point for him … ever since that devastating day two years before. Despite the non-frequent mention of the losses, he still had not yet gotten over them yet.

Harold sighed at the downtrodden look on James' face. "All right, James," he relented. "You can tag along with me tomorrow. Just don't go tormenting poor Miss Evans-"

He was cut off by an enthusiastic hug from James' who whooped in ecstasy. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he chanted happily. "I can't wait to see the other Marauders' faces when they hear I've been on Auror duty with my dad!"

Harold chuckled, walking outside to Apparate to work. He didn't think Miss Evans would be as pleased at having his son tag along when he went to visit her and her family tomorrow.

* * *

Far later than everyone had retired to their rooms to go to bed, Sirius silently crept out of the room with his trunk in his arms, and walked downstairs. He was careful not to disturb the new portrait of his mother that had only been put up that summer. She tended to be grouchy (like his real mother) if woken up or disturbed for no reason.

He made it safely into the kitchen, and reluctantly summoned their house elf Kreacher.

"Kreacher," he whispered harshly. "Kreacher, where are you?"

Kreacher arrived in the kitchen with a pop that made Sirius start slightly. "What will the young Master be needing from Kreacher tonight?" he asked, flinging himself to the ground in a rather pathetic bow.

"I need you to put a weightlessness charm on this trunk," Sirius ordered quickly.

"Kreacher can't, young Master Black," The house elf said pitifully, looking up, before bowing back down again; his long ears touching the ground.

Sirius scowled, and pulled the house elf back up to his feet. "Don't give me that, Kreacher. Just do it. You can hurt yourself after I leave if it makes you happy."

"Kreacher can't use magic for underage Masters'," Kreacher insisted. "Mistress Black does not want Young Master Black to disappear to his blood traitor friend's house again."

Sirius pulled out his wand angrily. He hated their damn house elf; he was too much like his own mother for his liking. "You do it Kreacher," he warned menacingly, "or I'll give you a sock."

Kreacher squeaked and immediately waved his gnarly hand at the trunk. Sirius picked it up effortlessly and smirked.

"Thank you, Kreacher," he said, then pulled something out of his pocket. It was a haplessly folded letter. "And if you could just give this to my mother and father tomorrow at breakfast, it would be much appreciated."

Sirius would love to see the face on his mother's face when she would read it the next morning. He had said everything he had wanted to say to her his whole life … about school … being a pureblood … his girlfriend … and most importantly, never wanting to be a part of the Black family again.

"Yes, young master," Kreacher said, taking the letter and putting it into his torn, grimy robes. "Kreacher will do as he is asked."

"Good," said Sirius, satisfied. "Now go away, Kreacher."

There was another pop and Sirius was once again alone in the kitchen. He remembered back to all the times he had been told off by his mother for stepping foot into this very room, because it was a room only servants and filthy Muggles belonged in.

Sirius took a long look around the room and snorted. It was just an ordinary room. No ranting on his mum's part would change that. Neither would she change the fact that Sirius was never going to step another foot in this whole stinking house again. Not with his sorry excuse of a family still living in it.

"Her and her crazy beliefs."

Sirius snorted again and moved out of the kitchen to the hallway. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Black family tree, and all the other portraits hanging along the wall.

Wonder how long it will take before I'm wiped off that tree, Sirius wondered, only half-interested.

Shrugging mentally as he really couldn't care less about the answer, Sirius headed outside, shutting the door softly behind him so none of his lovable family could stop him. With one last disdainful look towards his family home before it disappeared from view, Sirius gave a mock salute.

"May you all rot in Hell," he muttered under his breath, grabbing his feather-light trunk once more and heading off towards the end of the street. When he was a good distance away, he waved his wand in the air for the Knight Bus, then sat down on the trunk and fidgeted impatiently.

Thunderclouds began to move in over Sirius's head as he waited, and he watched; detached, as a light drizzle began to fall all around and on him.

"Where ye off to?" the conductor on the bus asked, when it finally arrived in front of him with a loud bang.

"Godric's Hollow," Sirius replied confidently, stepping on board and allowing the conductor to take his trunk. He smiled for the first time that summer as the bus took off from the street, uncaring of the fact that he was being tossed carelessly from the bed he sat on, and that the light drizzle had suddenly turned into a torrential downpour.

At last he'd be free of the family he wished he had never been born into.

* * *

That same night, long after he had said goodnight to his parents, James sat beside the fireplace in the dining room, with an almost blank piece of parchment lying in front of him.

He had been trying to write a letter to Evans, but so far had only gotten to the "_Dear_ _Evans_" part.

And actually … James thought for a moment before exasperatedly crossing out the "Dear".

With a sigh, he thoughtlessly tossed the quill onto the parchment. To his misfortune, it immediately began to leave a messy ink stain all over the parchment and the table.

"Damn!" James swore, jumping up in annoyance. Would nothing go right for just once!

He quickly cleaned the mess with a dab of "Madam Kashi's Stain remover for all stains!" then feeling completely at a loss, he collapsed onto the couch closest by the fireplace.

James moodily stared into the fireplace. So much trouble for one simple letter, he grumbled inwardly. Anybody would think he was writing a letter to the Minister or something, when in reality he just wanted to see how Evans was faring after the attack.

Not that he'd probably get an answer anyway, seeing as she couldn't stand him. He sighed again, removing his glasses and placing them on the nearby side table. He then closed his eyes, leaning back comfortably against the headrest of the couch. Maybe if he relaxed for a while, the letter would come to him …

A knock at the front door had James jumping up from his unintentional nap within moments, a wand outstretched in his hand and glasses held loosely in the other. Cautiously, he approached the door and placed his glasses lopsidedly on his face as the knocks continued on in a rather frenzied motion.

"Who's there?" he called out suspiciously, standing beside the door. He debated for a moment whether or not to wake his parents, but then decided against it. It could be nothing, and his parents deserved their rest. These recent attacks had definitely brought up unpleasant memories for all of them, and his father was running himself ragged with all the work.

"Please let me in," the voice replied back in a pleading tone.

Recognising the voice almost immediately, James swung the door open to face a very wet Sirius.

"Padfoot?" he said, surprised, then frowned. "What the hell are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

"Parents," Sirius replied gruffly, bending over to pick up a previously unseen suitcase by his side. James let him in, realisation hitting.

"What happened?" James asked, eyeing the suitcase. He had a nagging suspicion, but thought better to keep silent.

Sirius collapsed onto the nearest couch with a weary groan. "I ran away," he said simply, then asked hopefully. "Can I stay here until I find a place? It's for good this time," he added determinedly.

James gave a laugh, "Of course you can, Padfoot. My parents and I would love for you to stay here … as long as you want," he added, without a moment's hesitation. It was true though. His parents doted on Sirius whenever he came to visit, which was a lot.

Sirius visibly relaxed, flicking a stray lock of wet hair out of his face. "You don't know how much you have just made my day," he admitted, grinning sheepishly.

James waited until Sirius was comfortable before he asked the next question. "So what was it this time?"

James really shouldn't have been surprised that the late night visitor was Sirius. It had become a common act for Sirius to come by for at least one week during summer due to something his family had done, in particular his mother.

"You've heard about some recent Muggleborn attacks in the paper, haven't you?" Sirius queried curiously.

James nodded. "Evans' was one of them." he replied gruffly.

Sirius looked momentarily startled and then scowled darkly at the thought of his parents laughing at the misfortune of his own friend. They were so heartless. "Is she alright?" he asked quickly.

"Yeah, apparently it was just some sort of a letter," said James. "Though being able to so easily target her and some other Muggleborns is a worry. My dad's going to be relocating some of them into wizarding homes, and others like Evans' family are going to get protection wards around their house."

"Think that's going to be enough?" said Sirius. "Dear old Regulus says that Voldemort's increasing his death eater band. Him and some of his Slytherin friends might be joining soon."

"Can't say I'm surprised," James admitted. "Regulus is as dark as you can possibly get."

"You're telling me," Sirius snorted. "He was boasting about it at breakfast. He said I should drop all of you lot as friends, including my traitor girlfriend." His voice took on a clearly disgusted tone as though he was even disgusted by just repeating what was said. "You know even mother and father told me not to send any letters to you lot over the summer."

"So you've run away for good this time?" James queried curiously, poking his foot at Sirius's oversized trunk and remembering back to what Sirius had said only minutes before. "It seems you've brought half your house with you."

"Yeah, like I said. I'm out of there for good. I've had enough of living with them. I don't agree with anything they believe and do, and when I try and tell them that I don't want a part, they threaten me into upholding the Black name."

"As if the Black name's worth living up to anyway," James snorted under his breath.

"Exactly," exclaimed Sirius. "But try telling them that. They reckon that I should have turned out like Snivellus."

James frowned, not impressed. "What made them say that this time?"

"Oh, apparently he's everything that my parents want in me."

"What, a pathetic, snivelling little dark potions dictionary?" James scoffed.

Sirius took on a high pitched, irritable voice that could almost pass as his mother's. "He's a Slytherin. I'm a pathetic Gryffindor. He's a prefect, I'm not. He could be Head Boy, I could break the record for most detentions in my school career. He knows all of the dark arts and potions whereas I know only the defence of them … and oh of course, don't forget he's pure blood and is following in his dear little daddy's footsteps, while I'm the shame of my family." Sirius ranted bitterly. He threw his hands up in the air. "The list goes on."

"You know you're better than them."

"It doesn't seem like it half the time. When they're not comparing me to one of the other aristocratic pure-blood _Slytherin _families, they're comparing me with my own brother. I'm apparently _such_ a disappointment to them. I even heard Kreacher mumbling it under his breath the other day."

"Well," James said, trying to make light of the situation. "Good thing you're here then. Mum and dad will be thrilled to adopt you over the holidays. A second son to do the cleaning and cooking!"

* * *

"Oh, good morning Sirius." James' mother said graciously the next morning when James and Sirius trudged down. She seemed not at all concerned by the fact that they had an extra person at the breakfast table.

"Good morning Mrs Potter," Sirius yawned sleepily. "Sorry if I'm-"

Flo waved her arm around dismissively. "Don't even finish that sentence, Sirius," she said. "You're welcome here anytime – you know that."

Sirius flushed and looked down at his toast. "Thanks Mrs Potter," he mumbled.

"Don't Mrs Potter me, Sirius. How would you feel if I called Mr Black all the time? That's right you'd feel old, just like I feel like an old lady. Call me Flo if you want."

Sirius cracked a grin as James half-muttered under his breath, "Call me Flo, geez you've got her eating out of your hand, don't you?"

"Thanks Mrs- I mean Flo," replied Sirius, still grinning.

"So, has James told you what he's going to be doing today?" Flo asked, serving another piece of toast onto Sirius's plate.

Through the mouthful of food, Sirius shook his head and muttered, "No."

"Once his father gets up, he'll be accompanying him on Auror duty," James' mother supplied, winking slyly at James who immediately flushed. He didn't know why his mother was winking at him, but ever since she'd found the scribbles of Evans' initials all over his scrap paper, she'd been giving him sly looks at every chance she got. He'd been flushing ever since.

Catching the flush, Sirius raised an eyebrow, and playfully nudged James. "What's that about?"

"Never mind," said James, quickly.

Sirius opened his mouth to ask James' mother, but James' father suddenly came trotting downstairs; his own messy hair sticking out all over the place.

"Oh come here Harold," Flo chided, not harshly. She beckoned James' father over to her, and after sticking a piece of toast in his mouth, she proceeded to tame his messy locks with an oversized comb.

"There," she said proudly. "Now you don't look like a mop's been dropped on your head."

"Thanks honey." Harold kissed Flo chastely on the lips to the sounds of two teenage boys gagging.

"Get a room!" James cried indignantly, banging his plate on the table to get his parent's attention.

Harold turned around at the sound and blinked. "Oh, hello Sirius," he said. "Come to stay for the rest of summer?"

"Until I find a place of my own, if that's alright," Sirius said hastily.

"Course, course. Stay as long as you like. James needs an extra hand to clean out his room."

"Dad!"

"Sorry – so I suppose you want to come along too?"

"On Auror duty?" Sirius asked, his face lightening up. "Wow, sure. I'd love to."

"That's settled then." Harold looked at his watch. "Ah, time to go. I've just got their firework connected to the Floo network for the next few days, so there shouldn't be a problem with you two boys travelling. I'll just be Apparating there of course -"

"So what are we doing today, dad?" James asked, following his dad over to their fireplace.

Harold was still too preoccupied to answer James. "-And I daresay you shouldn't get in the way too much. You'll have plenty to occupy yourself I should say."

"_Dad_, where are we going?"

"Oh," Harold stopped suddenly as if he had forgotten something. "Didn't your mother tell you? You're coming with me to the Evans' place."

"WHAT?" Two voices simultaneously yelled; one horrified, the other gleeful.

"Dad, why didn't you tell me this sooner?" James cried. "I'm not ready to see her – I – I haven't even brushed my hair a- and look at my robes." He motioned at his work-worn robes, the ones he wore around the house when he had chores to do. "I – I don't even know what to say to her and – and she's going to lynch me when she sees me -"

"Don't worry, Mr Potter," Sirius said calmly, winking at Harold as James continued to fret. "I'll keep your son in check."

"See that you do, Sirius," Harold chuckled. "It seems my son has lost his head when it comes to Miss Lily Evans."

Together, they turned back to James, who was still mumbling incoherently under his breath and grinned. Sirius grabbed him by the sleeve of his robe, and dragged him towards the fireplace.

"Come on, Romeo. Your Juliet awaits."

"Yeah, except she won't be killing herself - forget that – she'll be out to kill me!"

* * *

"I can't believe you're going to let them into our house again!" Petunia shouted at the top of her lungs. Her parents desperately tried to console her but she refused to listen yet again. "I just want to live a normal life!"

She had just been given the news that Aurors from the Ministry would be spending the next few days setting up complicated protection and warding charms around their house … starting that very afternoon Unlike Lily, who insisted the protection was for the best, Petunia wasn't in the slightest bit grateful.

"We know you do, honey," their mother said soothingly. "And as soon as these Auroras put protection charms around the house, things will get back to normal."

"They're called Aurors, mum," Lily corrected quietly, who was standing behind her parents. Not wanting to displease her sister anymore, she had kept out of the argument other than to assure that nothing would be able to harm them if the Aurors did their job.

"_They're_ _called_ _Auras_ _mum_," Petunia mimicked pathetically. "Ever the perfect daughter, aren't you? Witch, prefect and all around goddess. Even got some of your crazed kind sending letters after you," she sneered.

"Petunia," Marie warned when Lily stiffened involuntarily at the memory.

Truthfully, Lily had never been scared more in her life when she had received that letter, even though it was only an insignificant thing. It was the principle of the letter, and the fact that this was something she could never change about herself. These sorts of people … Voldemort and his death eaters … they'd never accept her … and they would never give up finding a way to exterminate her and her parents, and the rest of the Muggle and Muggleborn population. It was a horrible realisation, and it made all the comments she had heard over the years more hurtful, more painful. They weren't just little school bully comments … they were real life problems that she'd never be able to escape … wherever she went.

Lily was shaken out of her thoughts when a loud horn tooted from outside.

"I'm going to Vernon's," Petunia stated shortly in a snobby manner, breaking away from her mother. Shooting an accusing glare at Lily, Petunia grabbed her coat and bag as she made her way to the front door, slamming it on her way out.

"_Petunia_ – no later than dinner." Marie fruitlessly called after her, wincing at the slam. She turned to her husband and sighed. He in return slipped a reassuring arm around her waist and squeezed gently.

"Don't worry, she'll come around," he said softly.

Lily could only watch on guiltily as her parents' faces momentarily showed the toll the past couple of days had dealt them … dealt them because of her.

With a heavy heart, Lily turned her back and quietly walked upstairs.

A few hours later, after Lily had sent off letters to Sionell and Arabella - who had probably already read about the attacks in the Daily Prophet – she heard a commotion downstairs and loud shouts.

Lily immediately got to her feet and began to run downstairs. As she descended the staircase, she heard a familiar pair of voices, and almost stopped dead in her tracks. It couldn't be …

"You're meant to get out of the way after you've gone through, bright spark."

"Yeah, well… I was trying to make a good entrance."

"You sure did. I think everybody in this neighbourhood is now aware of your arrival. As is my leg – Right now it's screaming get off me!"

"All right, all right. I uh – _uh_ _oh_." The latter voice stopped as Lily reached the living room. What she saw had her jaw go slack.

Standing - well rather lying in front of her, tangled up in their own limbs, were none other than Sirius Black and James Potter.

"What are you two doing here?" she demanded, both hands resting on her hips.

"Auror duty," the two boys chorused, planting two pairs of identical grins on their sooty faces.

"You're not Aurors."

Sirius was the first to rise, and pushed James' buttocks off his leg.

"We're with the team that is here to put up some protection charms."

"But you're not Aurors," Lily repeated, as though they were small children. "And you can't do magic outside of school."

"We know that," James said, standing up. He seemed to have recovered from the Floo trip, although his hair was filled with Floo powder. He resisted the urge to shake some off. "We came with my father."

As he said that, somebody at the front door knocked loudly, and after eyeing the two boys suspiciously for a moment, Lily ran to the door and opened it.

"Oh, hi Mr Potter," she said, looking surprised, letting in the older carbon copy of James.

"Good afternoon, Miss Evans," he greeted courteously. "I see my son and his friend have already dropped in."

"So," Lily began doubtfully. "they were meant to be here?"

"Just for today, Miss Evans. I hope you don't mind."

Inwardly, Lily was shouting at the top of her lungs that yes, she did mind - a lot in fact - but outwardly, she forced a smile on her face, and shook her head. She couldn't trust herself to speak at that moment.

"Are your parents around?"

Lily nodded, the forced smile still on the face. She managed to swallow before adding a little bit too sweetly, "They're out in the backyard with the Aurors that arrived earlier."

"Ah yes, then that's where I must be."

Harold smiled, and looked over Lily's shoulder to the two boys; James had failed to curb the urge and was discreetly trying to shake the Floo powder out of his hair, and Sirius was gawking at the Muggle lamp that had switched on when his elbow had accidentally brushed it.

"Could you keep the two boys occupied for just a while?" he asked. "This process is a bit difficult, and they'll only be in the way at the moment."

This time, Lily gritted her teeth. "Sure," she ground out, trying to sound polite. "When do you want them outside with you?"

"A couple of hours should be fine. Just until lunch, thank you Miss Evans."

Then, nodding at Lily, James' father showed himself out the back door to where her parents were. Lily followed his retreat with her eyes for a few moments, gathering her frayed temper.

She didn't know if she could handle having Potter there with her for any amount of time. Ever since she had been hit over the head with the realisation that Potter liked her, it had been hard for her to come to grips with. Nobody had ever liked her, and though it was flattering once she thought about it – having someone like you is always flattering in a way – she still couldn't get past the idea of it being James Potter, the bane of her existence … the boy she spent most of her life thinking up horrible ways to die. Well not die, per say. Humiliated was a better word, perhaps.

She shook herself mentally. It was enough to look over her shoulder for Potter whenever she was at school, but to have to do it at home now too – it was immensely frustrating.

Not to mention she had his sidekick around with him – the single most dangerous person to have around Muggle appliances. Hell, half the time he was the most dangerous person to have around magical things too.

Eventually, Lily turned back to Sirius and James and immediately frowned. At that moment, James had been toeing the loose Floo powder under the nearest couch, and Sirius had moved on to tapping the lamp with his wand. She rolled her eyes and looked up the ceiling, praying that this day would end quickly.

Her prayers went unanswered. A crash came from right in front of her and she looked back over in their direction.

The lamp Sirius had been prodding now lay broken in shards of glass on the ground. A sheepish expression crossed his face, and he put his wand away at the murderous look being directed his way.

"So, what've y'got to eat?" Sirius asked quickly, grinning innocently.

* * *

As Lily had suspected, those few hours before lunch were entirely too close to what hell would probably be like.

She spent half the time slapping Sirius's straying hand away from all things Muggle, including the family's television set, which Sirius had attempted to break ("In order to get to the little people" Sirius had insisted.) The other half was trying to keep as far away as possible from Potter, who seemed to make it his mission to see how she felt about the whole Muggleborn attack.

Finally though, lunch arrived and her parents came back inside with the small team of Aurors to sit around the family dining table. They ate in relative silence, Lily carefully avoiding Potter's eye as he watched her eat.

When lunch finished, Harold fulfilled his promise and took the boys off Lily's hands. So along with James and Sirius who were outside, and Lily - from her window upstairs - watched the Aurors do their job, walking around the house and checking every inch of the house was protected. It was a long, monotonous job, and only a quarter of the house was done.

This went on for a couple more hours until Lily grew bored with watching, and retreated downstairs to where her parents were sitting around the kitchen table. She talked with them for a while, about non-consequential things she later couldn't recall, but was stopped a while later when a sudden _whoosh_ came from the dining room.

To Lily, it sounded suspiciously like someone using the Floo again, so she simply stood up with her wand in hand, and walked through the dining room over to where the fireplace was situated. Her mother and father were only just behind her, so when the fireplace came into sight, they started violently, and her mother even screamed.

In the fireplace, where green flames were billowing out dramatically, a woman's head was sticking out.

Lily heard Potter's voice behind her gasp, "Mum!" and she turned abruptly to see that the two Potter's and Sirius had come inside at the sound of screaming.

"Sorry to bother you like this," the woman apologised, after briefly smiling at her son. "But Harold, you received a letter from Moody. He's over at the Ministry now, and he wants you there."

Harold nodded, and after quickly excusing himself from the Evans', he Apparated directly out of the room with a loud pop. Once he disappeared, James mother's head now faced the still shaken Evans.

"Hi, I'm Flo Potter," she said warmly, nodding at them. "That miscreant's mother," she jerked her head towards James, who smirked, "-and Harold Potter's wife."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs Potter," Marie greeted, albeit a bit hesitantly. She stepped an inch closer towards the fireplace. "You must forgive us, but we have never seen someone's head appear from the – fireplace like this before."

James' mother just laughed. "Quite unusual the first time you see it, isn't it? When James here first saw it, he wouldn't stop crying for days."

Sirius sniggered and elbowed James. "Oh, poor little Jamesie poo," he cooed, making Lily giggle and cover her mouth with both hands.

James' face went red. "Thanks, mum," he muttered bitterly, glaring pointedly at his mother.

"Oops." His mother seemed to get the point. "Well, I must be off. You two boys better get going now too. Seeing as your father has gone onto other business."

"But mum-" James protested.

"No buts, you've intruded into their household enough already today. You can join your father another day."

James' face fell. He wouldn't be able to see or speak to Evans again until summer holidays ended then. He had hoped he would have at least been able to have some more time to speak to Lily personally, seeing as the current afternoon had been wasted so. Lily had refused to speak to him privately the whole time, and the longest conversations he'd had with her were how could Muggles cook without magic, and where the bathroom was. Not the best conversation starters – especially when he was actually trying to ask how she was.

It wasn't as though he hadn't tried though. He'd approach her, questions ready to ask her in his mind … but then when she would look at him with barely concealed frustration – as though she knew what he was about to say - his mouth would spurt out the most ridiculous things.

"They're quite welcome to come again," Marie said suddenly, making the boys look at each other in shock and Lily to scowl. "Any friends of Lily's are friends of ours."

"They're not fr-" Lily began hotly, but was interrupted by a gushing Sirius.

"Thank you Mrs Evans," he said pleasantly, flashing a grateful grin. James followed Sirius's move and grinned too.

Her parents looked pleased and her mother even flushed at the young men.

"It's no problem at all," Marie insisted. "Not when compared to everything else that's been going on here lately," she trailed off with a nervous laugh.

"You know … my husband said that it might be a bit hectic at your house for the next few days," Flo said slowly, as though thinking of something. "You'd be quite welcome to come to our house for dinner tomorrow night if you want? We'd love to pay you back for your hospitality of this whole situation. Bring your whole family."

"Oh." Both of Lily's parents looked surprised, but despite Lily's frantically mouthing of _'no_, _please_ _no_,' they accepted.

"Good. We'll send James or myself over tomorrow night around 7pm through the Floo network to pick you up." Flo looked pleased and sent another wink James' way. "See you in a few minutes James and Sirius. Don't dilly dawdle around."

James groaned softly. Must his mother be any more blatant?

But secretly, he was jumping for joy. It looked like he would be able to see Lily again that summer. And this time, he wouldn't let her get away. He would speak to her, and he would win her over, just like he had planned.

* * *

**A/N:** 5420 words! If you people think I don't write enough for each chapter, you've got to stop thinking that now. It took me ages to write all this and I'm still really not happy with this chapter. I think I've lost something, though beats me trying to find out exactly what it is.

The next chapter should be out in the next three or so weeks, and should be the last chapter before they return back to Hogwarts. Sorry for the delay again, but uni is definitely taking priority over this story.

Anyway, please review to tell me what you all thought about it. I love long reviews and constructive criticism is fine. At the moment, I'm at uni taking courses on editing and publishing (just started), so I'm going to have to get used to being criticised at everything I write, lol.

As one reviewer pointed out to me, I am getting an increase in reviews, so it's becoming harder to personally reply to every reviewer. So from now on, my responses are going to be shorter, and I'll only reply properly if you ask a question or something. I'm really sorry about that!

Anyway, thanks to the following reviewers:

**Ajake, Eowyn, FrightninglyObsessed, firewalker32, Wind Whisperer, parsel, BlueEyedWildmage, jac, some12, aurora_borealis, Rauq, PhOeNiXReBiRtH, MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus, Marauder by Moonlight, Laurana Starbreeze, tarheelsrule01, Lily Christie, Who really cares, WuvMyJohnnyCade, Zigfreed, Drops-of-Winter, unperfection, RoNs*GuRrL, DK Lili, child-of-scorpio, toori, Tracey, girlygirl, On-A-Rainy-Day, Bella Black, coffee4evr, Hannah2, EvanescentLife, keli, Distant Cousins of Eris, Lixt, MooningOverMoony, Spiffy Pixie, Dark-invisible-rapist-stalker, alimison, limbo-gal, Pigwidgeon188, cHoCoLaTeZ, moony391, miss rix, Elspeth Renee, Chinese Punk, Shayley Rain, animalluvr75, The REAL James Potter, Lily and James Potter, saxist writer chick, so simple x3, Cotokeet, LimeJuiceTub, MaraudersAreMyGods, potts, Angel Street, kitty, swimwiththestars** and **prongs122**!

And an extended thanks to:

**Rauq: **_Hey, thanks for reviewing again. Don't worry, there will be more on Sirius's life, and hopefully after you've read the next few chapter, you'll understand more why Sirius left when he did, and that it wasn't really just a spur of the moment act … it's something that has been coming for a while and that was just the last straw, if you know what I mean. Anywho, thanks again, and I hope you continue to read and review!_

**Lily Christie: **_Okay, I answered part of your review up in my author's notes at the top … relating to Sirius that it. Hopefully, you'll understand a bit more once you've read what I think about Sirius's situation. Also, Snape isn't the only reason for Sirius to run away. It's just one link in a chain of events … one you'll be finding out later on in my story. I'm glad you liked James' part in last chapter, and I'll let you in on a not so little secret … Petunia can get a lot, lot worse! Anyway, thanks for reviewing!_

WuvMyJohnnyCade: _Thanks for reviewing, and I'd love to chat with you! Unfortunately I don't have all that much time on the net due to uni (which just started last week), so if you ever do want to chat, just join my yahoo group (if you haven't already done so), and post a message or whatever._ _The address for my yahoo group is on my author bio._

**Evanescent Life: **_Wow, I can't believe how many chapters you reviewed! Thank you so very much! I have quite a bit to respond too, so bear with me. Firstly, I'm not sure if you remembered after you wrote the review, but I checked and seeing as Cedric Diggory was in Hufflepuff, I figured I'd just put his father in the same house. Umm … also, yes I do believe the toilets flush in the opposite direction over here in Australia. I don't much pay all that much attention to that little fact though, lol. And yes, it is summer over here … well actually no, scratch that. Just finished summer, now we're starting autumn, although you can hardly tell. It still feels like summer! *Ahem*, sorry, got a bit carried away there. Now where was I … ah yes. As you can see, things are going pretty slow at the moment, so I am planning on this story going on for quite a while more … Anyway, don't worry about how many times you wrote your little signature thing. Lol, as long as you continue reviewing, you can write that signature thing a hundred times. He he. Thanks again for reviewing!_

**Distant Cousins of Eris: **_Yeah I know, that was really shocking for me. I'm really sorry about the grammar mistakes. I had to hurry and finish the chapter (because it was quite late in the night for me), so usually I would read over the chapter for any major errors, but this time I didn't. Thanks for pointing them out to me, and I did fix them after I read your review. I'll make sure to read your fic too in a while. I would do it straight away, but I'm going nuts with uni at the moment … which you can probably already tell from the late chapter update! Oh and the name thing … James' mother was originally named Marion, but then I realised I had way too many 'M' names (bit obsessed with the letter really, lol), so at the last minute I changed it, and then forgot to change the rest of the chapter to fit it. Anyway, thanks for reviewing._

**Alimison: **_Thank you, I'm so glad you find it so interesting. Unfortunately though, I'm not perfect, so yes I am aware of grammar/spelling errors, and when I get the time, I will be combing through all the chapter and fixing them up. About Arabella Figg, yes I already have addressed this small inconsistency with ootp, but as I started the fic before ootp came out, I used the name thinking no harm would come to it … obviously I was wrong, lol. Anyway, if you look back maybe one or two chapters, you'll find out a wacky explanation for why the Arabella in my fic is different than the Squib Arabella Figg in ootp. I agree … Remus and Bella aren't perhaps the most compatible couple, but later on you might find yourself softening towards the two of them being together … well I hope anyway. Also, seeing as I come from Australia, I have no idea how long English terms like 'snog' and 'shag' and so on have been in circulation in England … so I know I won't be exactly perfect with their language. Same with their personalities … but then again, when I read the Harry Potter books, I get the feeling the characters all act older than what they really are … it's just something that the reader interprets really … so I can't change anything … Also, with your comment on Mrs Black, just have a quick glance at my author's notes at the top and hopefully it might answer your question on her for a while. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, and I hope you continue to read and review my story. I don't mind constructive criticism._

**Pigwidgeon188:** _Well, although I am going to be following ootp from now on (therefore yes, Lily and James won't be _officially_ getting together until their 7th year), their sixth year will contain quite a few important events … the shrieking shack for one … maybe even the creation of the Marauders Map … and the building blocks of a relationship between Lily and James. You know, him chasing madly after her, trying to make her fall for him and all that … hint hint, lol. Anyway, seeing as my fic is going relatively slow, I won't be writing as many chapters for their sixth year as I did for their fifth (probably half the amount). So do not despair … their sixth year will pass soon and then watch out, their seventh year awaits! Thanks for reviewing!_

**Moony391: **_No, you weren't wrong. I did originally have Lily getting into trouble for not attending Petunia's wedding … but a while ago, I modified that chapter, and a few others, just changing a few things I needed to for later chapter developments. I think I did leave notes at the end of that particular chapter, but I understand if you never went back and read it again. Anyway, sorry for that, and thanks for reviewing!_

**So simple x3:**_ No, that's alright. I don't mind … in actual fact you're right. There are way too many reviews for me to reply personally like I have been up until now. So I did what you suggested, and shortened the amount of people I do responses for. Although, I do have to say, that even though I include many review responses in my past chapters, I still do write long chapters … often going beyond 4000 words. So I don't think I will be able to make them any longer. It already takes me ages just for that length … lol. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!_

**LimeJuiceTub:**_ Lol, you've read it twice over! Thanks, I'm very much honoured that it's good enough to read over again. Since ootp came out, I have found myself only being able to read portions of the book … not the book as a whole for a second time, lol. As for your comment on Mrs Black, I wrote something in my author's notes that might help answer your questions. Oh also, about Mr Black calling Voldemort the Dark Lord … well I believe that even though the Black family aren't death eaters (excluding Regulus), the fact that they support what Voldemort is doing, is enough for them to show a bit of respect by calling him the Dark Lord instead of speaking his real name or calling him by You-Know-who (which I think is really a bit pathetic). Anyway, I hope my rambling answers your questions. Thanks for reviewing!_

**MaraudersAreMyGods: **_Thanks for reviewing! And if you're interested, my other story can be found on my author bio page … it's not L/J though. It's a fic on Harry's sixth year!_


	24. The dinner date

**Title:** Diametrically Opposed

**Author:** mony2208

**Rating: **PG-13 for occasional bad words

**Summary: **Lily Evans has always detested the very sight of James Potter and up until fifth year, James thought he felt the same way. But circumstances arise that begin to make James look twice at his so-called enemy… & now he can't seem to get her out of his mind...

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Forewords: **That's right everybody, I have finally come back to life. I am now available for comment, meetings … the odd killing if anybody desires ;).

Nah … just on a serious note, I do apologise for the delay. I never intended to leave the story like this, but real life dealt me a major blow, and the past few months have been absolutely horrible. However, now that it is over and I've finally recovered from my ongoing illness, the periods between updating will be a lot quicker than before. I am now also on holiday until like March, so I'll be writing as much as I can in that time. _For all of my stories_.

If anybody reads my other stories, you'll notice I changed the presentation of them – and also of this chapter. I do want to go back and fix all the other chapters of this story, so this is just a calling for a beta if anybody is interested. I want to be able to fix up all the little spelling and grammatical errors, like I have done for my other story. So if anybody wants the horrendous job, can you please leave me an email or a review? I won't necessarily be going for the first person asking for the job, I do want to know if you've betaed before, or how long it might take you, etc, etc.

Well anyway, here's the long awaited chapter!

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**Diametrically Opposed**

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**Chapter Twenty-Four**

_The dinner date_

If Lily had thought Petunia had flown the coop when she'd been informed of the auror's coming to their house, she had been dead wrong.

The scene she was currently watching in front of her was infinitely worse.

"_Dinner?_" Petunia shrieked rudely, facing her two parents by the staircase. The veins on her bony neck were clearly visible, practically popping out in red, angry looking lines. "You want me to go to _dinner_ with those freaks?"

"Now Pet-" In a familiar scene from earlier, Lily's father Mark was desperately trying to placate her.

But Petunia's face was red with anger and nothing their mother or father could do was helping.

"There is no way you're getting me to go to one of her kind's for dinner." she yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Lily. "It will be a complete _freakshow_." The last bit ended as a wail, and she stomped her foot rather childishly.

Lily fumed inwardly at the display, standing off to the side and fighting to keep her mouth shut. She might not be entirely eager to go to the Potter's house either, but she wasn't going to make a big deal about it. It was obvious her parents were stressed enough as it was, and Petunia's selfishness and obvious discrimination about Lily's so called _kind_ was getting on everyone's nerves.

For what had to be the third or fourth time that evening, Lily's mother stepped forward to offer a conciliatory smile.

"It won't be a freak show, Petunia." she said gently. "The Potter's were kind enough to offer us a place to go for dinner and your father and I thought it might be good for all of us to get out of the house for a bit, while the aurors work outside. They will be working back a bit later tonight – something to do with other houses needing the same work - so it might be good to just relax, don't you think?"

The guilt tactic - or the mention of _Lily's kind_ still working outside – seemed to do the trick and Petunia at least stopped waving her arms around to look at her pleading parents.

Several heartbeats later, Petunia sighed exasperatedly. "Fine! I'll go." she exclaimed finally.

To the collective sighs of reliefs from their parents, Marie beamed and took another step forward to envelop Petunia in a hug, but with another sigh, Petunia dodged it; stepping off the staircase and into the adjacent dining room. "But at least let me do _one_ thing." She threw over her shoulder as she sat down on the couch.

Following dutifully after her mother and father, Lily caught her sister eyeing the set of car keys lying on the coffee table in front of her, and had the strangest feeling that the argument wasn't quite over.

Unfortunately, her father didn't seem to think the same. "Sure, Pet." he grinned. "Whatever you want."

A triumphant smile appeared on Petunia's thin lips as she crossed her knobbly knees. "At least let _me_ be the one to drive us to _their _house." she declared, reaching forward to pluck the car keys off the table. "Only Dudley ever lets me drive now."

_Uh oh_. Lily averted her eyes, making an indistinct noise at the back of her throat as she locked gazes with her now frowning mother. _Why did I have to be right?_

Other than the jingle of the keys in Petunia's hands, an uncomfortable silence grew in the room, until Mark replied hesitantly, "Uh – actually … Petunia, we won't be going by car."

At first, Petunia just sat there without responding, mouth slack, but then her face seemed to regain some colour and she closed her mouth then opened it again to speak. "Then how are we going to get there?" Her voice was strangely quiet as though she was saving her voice for something catastrophic …

"The aurors working here connected us through the - fireplace-"

… Which, of course she was.

"FIREPLACE!" Petunia screeched hysterically. Lily could have sworn the nearby window rattled from the force of it. "_FIREPLACE! _How do you expect us to get anywhere with a _fireplace?_"

Their father cleared his throat uncomfortably as he gingerly walked over to the fireplace. "You – er just stick your body in the fireplace, see," Mark stepped inside it, avoiding the soot, then ducked his head lower and looked at Lily as if for reassurance.

Lily nodded in return, but before she could say anything else, Petunia dropped the keys on the table with a loud crash and screeched again.

"You expect me to stick my _body_ in a fireplace? How stupid do you think I am?"

_Pretty stupid_, Lily answered in her head, but outwardly, she maintained a blank expression as she stepped forward and locked gazes with her sister.

"You could always travel the other way." She adopted a carefully casual tone as Petunia stopped her screeching to look at her, and then smiled sweetly. "I'm sure the aurors will have a few spare _brooms_ that you can ride on if I were to ask."

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The next night, just before 7pm, Petunia stood sulkily in between their parents, shooting Lily and the fireplace equally filthy glares.

Of course - after overcoming the brief urge to silence Petunia with a good Silencing Charm - Lily remained unaffected by it, choosing to find the situation quite amusing …especially after she had earlier witnessed Petunia so vehemently protest that she wear a yellow raincoat to protect her from the fireplace and its freakishness.

Lily couldn't stop the small snort as she saw the bright yellow colour of the raincoat out of the corner of her vision. Her parents hadn't managed to convince Petunia to discard it, but in Lily's opinion, it would be worth having to put up with Potter and Black just to see their faces when Petunia would turn up wearing _that_. She even wondered if Potter might have a camera handy, so she could send some pictures to Sionell and Bella.

"Now," her father said, shaking her out of her thoughts. "are you sure we aren't wearing anything inappropriate?"

Sighing exasperatedly, she looked her family up and down; her father nervously adjusting his tie, her mother brushing a speck of dust from her long skirt, and her sister wrapping that horrible raincoat tighter around her bony body.

Fighting back another bout of amusement, Lily shook her head. "Apart from wearing that _raincoat_, I'm sure you'll all be fine." she smiled sweetly at her sister, not being able to resist one last good jab.

Petunia only scowled back, before turning to glare at the fireplace again.

Her smile disappearing, Lily made a small face before too turning her attention towards the fireplace. Although she was trying hard not to think too much about it, Lily couldn't help but wonder what a whole night with Potter and Black would entail. Would Potter be the complete bastard he'd been for much of the five years she'd known him? Would he and Black play an endless amount of practical jokes on her?

Or would Potter start acting like the boy he'd been at the end of the year, the one who stared at her during all their classes, the one who tried to protect her from dirty, unscrupulous boys … the one who kissed her and asked her out and danced with her?

Lily bit her lip at the last. When she put it together like that, it almost seemed romantic and – and well, rather endearing actually. As she had thought before, to have a boy _like_ her was rather flattering obviously, even though it _was_ a boy she'd tried to maim - or kill on occasion.

However – and here Lily frowned – there was no way she could forget how he'd gone about doing those things and how, up until now, he'd always acted around her. She couldn't forget that prank from first year, the prank that had hurt more than she had ever wanted to admit. She couldn't forget all the other pranks since, as well as the constant insults towards her and Snape and all things Slytherin. It just wasn't that easy.

He might be smart, and good-looking, and really, really charming when he wanted to be, but Lily meant what she said that day after the exams, both outside and later on in the common room.

Lily had loathed Potter for five years - with good reason too - and frankly, it felt weird to think that there could be anything more between them when Potter still acted like that arrogant, immature, selfish little first year she'd met on the train all that time ago.

And honestly, Lily doubted he'd ever change. Not just for a girl that he had a crush on.

As the clock struck 7 o'clock and began its first of seven chimes, Lily pulled herself away from her thoughts, and straightened herself slightly as she looked expectantly at the fireplace. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that her parents had also followed her move, straightening themselves up, but that Petunia had taken a noticeable step back as if she was about to bolt at any minute.

Momentarily distracted, Lily smiled, then almost jumped as the fireplace roared to life and two fast-moving shapes came stumbling into the now soot-filled room.

"Evening," Sirius chirped cheerfully after everyone had rushed to open the windows so to let the soot clear from the room.

Lily coughed, shooting him and an unusually silent Potter a filthy look as she snapped one window closed. "Have you ever heard of using less than _one _bowl of floo powder when you come trampling through the fireplace?" she asked sarcastically.

"Lily," her mother warned, but Sirius merely smiled.

"No worries, Mrs Evans." he said cheekily, "Lil just says that to be affectionate because she loves us so."

_Lil_. A scowl now crossed her face, but her parents' presence stopped her from retorting. "Yes mother," she said instead, forcing out through gritted teeth. "_Siri-_" Sirius winced. "and I are practically as close as Petunia and myself."

Out of the two, only James understood that comment, softly snorting before brushing off the soot from his robes.

At that movement, Lily heard Petunia gasp loudly, and she turned to see Petunia's already fair skin pale even more.

"Why are the boys wearing dresses?" she asked out loud, looking horrified at the formal dress robes the two boys were wearing. Uncaring of the two boys in front of her, she rudely turned her back on them to pull childishly at her father's sleeve. "Daaad." she whined to him, Lily only just managing to overhear her. "They don't even know how to dress properly. Don't make me go."

"Don't be silly, Petunia." Mark said firmly. "This is what all wizards wear in their world."

"But they're _dresses_." Petunia protested, her voice growing louder. "They look like those two cross-dressers on the corner of Portland and Maryburne St."

Lily had to turn away to conceal her giggle at the thought of Potter and Black in high heels and black hosiery like the two men Petunia had mentioned.

When she turned back, her face maintaining an even expression, she noticed that her father was hardly amused, and his jaw was tightening.

"I'd like you to treat them with respect Petunia," he stated in a low tone, then turned back to the two boys who had started talking to Lily's mother. "Gentlemen," he said louder, gaining their attention. "you've already met my wife and myself, but I'd like you to meet Petunia, Lily's older sister."

He gestured beside him, where Petunia was standing with a scowl.

Sirius and James first looked at Petunia, taking in her bony frame and horse-like face, then looked back at Lily, with her fiery red hair and shorter, more delicate features. Their eyebrows simultaneously rose.

"You're Lily's sister?" James repeated in disbelief.

Petunia puffed herself up snootily and though her bony frame was shorter than James, she managed to look down at him as though he was a mere insect that she was about ready to squash. "Unfortunately, yes I am."

"But Lily's so much more beau-" Lily blushed, and James hastily corrected himself, "_different_ – you look so much more different from one another."

"Well I should hope we look different than one another." Petunia sniffed, not catching James' mistake. Sirius had, and he winked at Lily who continued to blush. "I would think that we have _nothing_ in common with each other."

"Yes, you would, wouldn't you?" Lily muttered cynically, getting over her blush long enough to give a slight roll of her eyes.

James snorted again at Lily, then bowed dramatically at Petunia. "Well – it's nice to meet you, Petunia." Sirius followed suit, an evil grin on his face.

Lily caught sight of it and frowned. She recognised that grin. It was one that meant a detention or an extreme loss of points was not far around the corner. It was his Marauder's look. She opened her mouth, about to ask him what exactly that grin was all about, but at that moment her parents cleared their throat rather pointedly.

Still frowning, Lily reluctantly shifted her gaze from Sirius and looked back to her parents; her mother smiling nervously, and her father jerking his head in the direction behind Lily.

She turned around, getting the hint and saw, surprised, that James had extended his arm in a rather gentlemanly manner. As her mouth dropped open, she saw Sirius doing the same to an unimpressed Petunia, who took his hand after another glare from their father.

"Well, Miss Evans," said James, breaking the silence. His hand was still outstretched, making Lily realise she'd almost drifted off again. "allow me to guide you into the fireplace."

For a moment, as Lily's eyes were raised to meet Potter's, she saw James' father, rather than James in front of her, and she was suddenly struck with the realisation how familiar they were when they wanted to be.

It also made her realise that perhaps, it wasn't so improbable for Potter to change after all … if he really was that serious about liking her that is.

Nevertheless, that rather startling thought lingered in her mind when Lily took Potter's hand and allowed him to lead her into the fireplace.

**

* * *

**

"Well," James' mother began cheerfully. "This is nice." She cast a grin around at the table's occupants.

After the usual introductions and greetings, the Potter and Evans family had almost immediately moved to the dinner table, which was set out as followed; Flo sat beside her husband and Lily's mother Marie. Mark, Lily's father, sat on Marie's right, with Petunia on his left. Next came Lily, and due to Flo's meddling, James was strategically placed on Lily's right. Sirius finished the round, and was seated between both James and Flo.

The only answer Flo received was a frosty silence on Petunia's part, a small smile from Lily and an apologetic smile from the two other parents. James and Sirius merely sniggered into their hands at the sight of Lily's sister sticking her abnormally long neck up into the air as she sniffed in distaste.

Nonetheless, Flo seemed undeterred, her grin remaining stubbornly on her face.

James wondered briefly if she really had been a Gryffindor in her school days; she seemed to enjoy the torture of the dinner a bit too much for one. That was for sure.

"Shall we begin?" she asked, and at the polite mutterings she heard, she clapped her hands briskly.

Similar to Hogwarts, plates bearing foods of all sort automatically appeared in the centre of the table, causing Lily's parents to jump, and Petunia to screech in an extremely unflattering manner.

The boys upped their sniggers into full blown laughter, their faces turning red, and they only stopped when Flo levitated a wooden spoon over to James and whacked him on the upside of the head.

That time, Lily couldn't stifle her own giggles that emerged as James let out a yelp and he glared back, momentarily forgetting who he was sitting next to. Lily returned the glare, and doing the opposite that James was, she remembered _exactly_ who she was sitting beside; the boy who had made her life hell before he decided that he suddenly and irrationally liked her. With a sniff, she forcibly tried to stop her mind from connecting Potter with his rather charming father and turned her head away to reluctantly calm Petunia, who was about ready to bolt again.

"Behave, gentlemen." Harold warned whilst James rubbed his head ruefully.

Summoning the spoon back to her hand, Flo acted as though nothing had happened, motioning for everyone to dig in. Slowly - apart from Sirius - everybody did so, piling food onto their plate, including a reluctant Petunia after Lily saw their father nudging her meaningfully.

Conversation was brief and polite as the dinner progressed; the two married couples conversing the most about the muggle and magical worlds, leaving the teenagers to strike up their own conversations.

However, the rest of the table's occupants remained mostly quiet. Petunia ate in complete silence, ignoring any and all conversation around her, and Sirius too remained focused on his food, although for completely different reasons.

As for James, he tried his best not to put his foot in his mouth, and as such only asked Lily little things, like to pass the salt or the potatoes. He was too nervous about being in such close presence to Lily to talk about anything else, especially the questions that he most wanted to ask.

For Lily's part, she put her most politest manners to the test, not saying anything biting or insulting to the boy that had caused her grief for the past five years … something that she now couldn't stop repeating in her head, if not to get the image of Potter's face by the fireplace permanently out of her mind.

Unsurprisingly, all conversation had pretty much dried out by the time the food disappeared off the table; Petunia's constant negative presence making everybody particularly uncomfortable.

"Anyone for dessert?" Flo asked when everybody had stopped eating.

The only one to answer was Sirius, who, ignoring the downbeat atmosphere, cried out a resounding and enthusiastic "Yes!"

**

* * *

**

After dinner, James approached Lily as his mother told him – with another wink - to lead her and her sister to the bathroom so they could wash up.

Along the corridors, Lily fell into step alongside him - Petunia trailing behind - choosing not to say anything as James prattled on about his house. She rather preferred the chance to not have to say anything.

However, as it was the first opportunity James had had that night to talk to her relatively alone, it wasn't long before he stopped talking about his house and finally approached the subject that had been on his mind for the past couple of days.

"So how are you?" he asked in a soft tone that Petunia wouldn't be able to overhear.

Her answer was almost predictable in James' mind.

"I'm fine," replied Lily, quickly, turning her head away to look at a nearby moving portrait. She never imagined she'd be having this conversation with Potter of all people. She'd hardly been able to talk to her _parents_ about the whole situation, much less anyone else.

However, as always, James proved to be different from anyone else, and he didn't stop there. "You sure? It must have been-"

"I _said_-" Lily interrupted firmly. "I'm _fine_, Potter. Just leave it."

James held both hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I just wanted to see how you were handling everything." he said. "I know that – I mean I imagine that it must have hit you pretty hard … you know, with all that stuff back in first year and everything." He then shrugged. "Thought you might appreciate another person to spill your troubles too."

_Well,_ Lily thought, taken aback. _This is different. Potter's actually sounding rather sincere and concerned … and about someone other than himself too._

Looking up at Potter, who had stopped walking, she waited for him to say something arrogant that would completely ruin the moment, but when he didn't, looking back at her in obvious concern, she struggled for some words to say.

"Um – well – no thanks – b- but thank you for – for offering, I guess. I do appreciate it." At Potter's shocked look, she elaborated. "Just -apart from Bella and Sionell, you're really the only one who – knows how much all this – might be affecting me." She took a deep breath and evaded her gaze to the ground. She couldn't _believe_ she'd just admitted that to Potter. She'd practically put him in the same league as her two closest friends.

"Well, regardless what you think of me, I do care about you," James stated earnestly, his face softening. His hand itched to squeeze Lily's shoulder in consolation. "and I was worried when I'd heard you'd been targeted." He laughed, the sound echoing throughout the hallway. "I even tried to write you a letter, but I – I could never find the right things to say."

"Oh," Lily breathed, once again stunned. There was definitely one large part of her that would have honestly ripped the letter to shreds had she got one, but there was a small part of her that appreciated the gesture.

The same part that realised it was nice to have someone so concerned about her.

Lily opened her mouth to reply, unsure of what exactly was going to come out, but then luckily a high-pitched voice sounded from behind them, reminding them that they were not alone.

"Are we going to reach the bathroom _anytime_ _soon_?"

It was James, who reluctantly tore his eyes away to focus on the unpleasant sight of Lily's sister.

"Right now, Petunia," he said, trying to sound as polite as he possibly could.

However, he couldn't help rolling his eyes after pointing towards the door.

Not noticing, Petunia "hmmphed", retreating into the room that Potter pointed at, and with an almost apologetic look, Lily quickly followed.

James smiled to himself as the bathroom door closed. Something extremely important had just happened between Lily and himself. They'd just had a meaningful conversation and unlike other times that had happened, he hadn't done anything stupid, and Lily had actually walked away without cursing him to the lowest depths of hell.

He leant against the door, hearing the murmured voices behind it.

_There may still be hope for me left._

**

* * *

**

"So when do we get to leave this stupid house?" Petunia asked, once they'd both finished in the bathroom. Lily had bitterly seen that Petunia made sure not to touch anything in the wizarding bathroom - other than the few objects recognised as being muggle-like - and wasn't happy.

Lily sighed inwardly. "It probably won't be too long now." she answered, gritting her teeth.

Petunia tossed her bony blonde head disdainfully. "We wouldn't even have needed to come here if it wasn't for that stupid letter you got." she sniffed. "To think that mum and dad were so proud of having a witch in the family. If they had known how much trouble this _magic_ stuff was going to be, I don't think they would have been as pleased."

"Just lay off, Pet." Lily snapped irritably. "I'm not too happy with everything going on right now either. I didn't ask to targeted by a psychotic murderer, nor did I ask to come to this dinner tonight."

"As if you haven't enjoyed those freaks practically falling over your feet for you," Petunia spat, and Lily was stunned silent. "What?" Petunia laughed bitterly. "You didn't think I'd notice how that messy haired one drools at you? Come on, his eyes were glued to your pathetic face all evening."

"I'll have you know he's one of the most popular wizards at Hogwarts." Lily grumbled out of spite. She knew it was rather hypocritical to defend Potter, but Petunia made it sound as though it was abnormal to have someone _like_ her. Besides, he had been treating her rather well that evening.

Petunia made a sort of snorting nose as she reapplied her horribly red lipstick. "Wizard." she scoffed. "As if that's worth much. He might as well be a drunk on the street with the way he's going to end up." Lily heard the unspoken _as well as you _as Petunia smugly finished, and wanting to rip off the smirk that now adorned Petunia's face, she swallowed her anger to snatch up her bag.

"Well," she said evenly, turning towards the door. "I'd say that being with a drunk would be better than being with a guy in some dead end job like an office job or a worker at a drill bit place." Not turning around, Lily deliberately stopped for a long moment so that what she said would sink in, then added in a nonchalant tone, "How is Vernon, by the way?"

And before Petunia's splutters turned into anything coherent, Lily reached for the door, and walked out, slamming the door after her.

Potter, who was just a little bit down the hall, snapped his head up at the loud noise, and asked her if everything was fine.

"Yeah, Petunia's just – not feeling so well." Lily said, hiding her smirk. "Had a bit too much to drink."

**

* * *

**

Returning back from the bathroom, the rest of the evening actually passed by relatively uneventful; Petunia following her father's wishes to be as polite as she could possibly be, and Lily managing to get along pretty well with Potter and Black.

The only moment that almost seemed to ruin the moment was when Flo and Harold gave Lily's parents the tour of the magical house, leaving the four teenagers to themselves in the dining room. Almost immediately, Petunia had opted to storm out into the nearby hallway, her expression making it clear to Lily that she was no longer going to pretend she didn't mind staying there, at least not now that their parents had disappeared.

After Petunia had left, Lily sighed, and sank lower into the couch she was sitting on. "Stupid Petunia." she mumbled softly, looking down to the ground. Her little jab at Petunia in the bathroom had given her a certain amount of amusement for a little while, but as always her sister somehow managed to darken her mood.

James turned his head towards her. "Is she always like that?" he asked, curious.

Lily nodded wearily. "Worse – usually." she answered. "You should have heard her scream when she found out she'd have to floo here."

Sirius spoke up. "Is that why she was wearing that weird yellow robe? Or is that just some sort of fashion in the muggle world?"

Snorting, Lily shook her head, her gaze still focused on the floor. "She didn't want to get anything _abnormal _on her when she went through."

"Abnormal?" James echoed rather irately. Lily's sister was sure a piece of work. "She doesn't honestly believe that?"

"That and when I finish school yo- I'll probably end up being a drunken idiot living on the street." Lily decided not to mention that Petunia had originally said that about him.

"That's stupid." James exclaimed indignantly. He was just as annoyed as if Lily _had_ told him that Petunia had said that about him. "There's loads of jobs available for witches and wizards. Right Sirius?"

When there was no immediate answer, Lily lifted her head over to the couch where Sirius had been lying comfortably on. He was no longer there though.

"I – where – where's Sirius gone?" she asked, her forehead creased in confusion. She never noticed when he had snuck away.

James frowned. "I think he might have gone to talk with your sister-" He stopped at Lily's stricken face, who had suddenly remembered Sirius's earlier evil grin. "What?"

"I have to stop him," she blurted out urgently, rushing to the door. "before he does something he's going to regret."

She ran back into the dining room and out into the hallway without another word, James left behind with a curious look on his face.

A few minutes and a shrill scream later, Lily entered the kitchen again, but this time followed by a red-faced, fuming Sirius, who she firmly had by the sleeve of one arm. When they grew closer, James also noticed that Sirius also had unusually wet hair.

"Well I never." Sirius breathed, amazed, once he and Lily reached James. He sat down with a dissatisfied grunt. "She could give my mother a run for her money."

"What'd she do?"

"I just thought I'd introduce her to the wonder of magic." Sirius explained, still looking rather dazed. "Sionell told me once how your sister knew hardly anything about the world, so I thought I'd – educate her … She just – didn't take too well to it."

James shook his head ruefully, and groaned. "Please tell me you didn't conjure that prank bouquet of flowers from Zonko's?"

"You mean the bouquet of flowers that tends to squirt water straight at a person's face when they accept them?" Lily said sarcastically, before Sirius could answer.

"That would be the ones," James admitted, shooting a sly grin over to Sirius, who at least had the grace to look shameful. "Why is _he_ the one wet though?"

At that point, Sirius had regained his voice. "I never knew she'd be such a prude." He said grumpily. "I thought she needed a good joke to get her to lighten up. I mean she wouldn't even accept them – just threw them right back in my face, and _poof!_"

James stifled a snigger at that, covering his mouth with one hand, and Sirius scowled at him, shaking his head indignantly so that a spray of water hit James full in the face.

James would have cried out at that, but his attention was soon diverted back to Lily, who was moving to sit down with a morose look on her face.

"Believe me, _nothing's_ going to get her to lighten up about magic." she muttered under her breath. She eyed the doorway in which Petunia was standing beside and scowling, adding even quieter. "_Ever_."

But James heard her, and following her gaze to her sullen looking sister, he had to silently agree.

**

* * *

**

**A/N:** Well, finally there is Chapter 24. I'm really hoping the other chapters don't take as long to write, but HP and the GFT has to be updated as well, so you might have to wait another couple of weeks.

As I heard that you're no longer allowed to respond to reviewers, and it honestly takes up a lot of time, I'm sorry to say that other than thanking everyone who reviews, I won't be doing any extended replies to them at the end or beginning of each chapter any longer. I guarantee I read through every single one though and your feedback is very much appreciated!

But anyway, I definitely can't go without thanking all those who have reviewed (and there were _so_ many, I was very shocked):

**Earwen Colonel, Hufflepuff1234, MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus, Hey, Angel Street, swimwiththestars, PhoenixTears13, Opal Flames, Some 12, Virgin Mari, Lily and James Potter, child-of-scorpio, Pigwidgeon188, Abby123, Xunderdogx,** **HPDisorder, Anonymous, On-A-Rainy-Day, DK Lili, SoulAvenger, Gizelle, Red-Emerald, kitty, Shayley Rain, Ally37, MaraudersAreMyGods, limbo-gal, Midnightprowler, Spiffy Pixie, pingpong5, sour-peach, kris250, Laurana Starbreeze, Daedreamer, ByeByeBirdie, FireLizard, Black Cherry Lipz, shortie-sez, ayse, Musicstarlover, azura, Crystal56, Hannah, orangish, Goldilocks31890, beth, Tika wayalan, glaz, Anonn Lee, a nagging reader, rockersbb13, Pink Garfield, Hermione, Kat44, Marz rulz, Drusilla, Merlyn Britainnicus, LivingDreams, Rose of Darkness**, **Star, Jack Robinson, Wise Man Domingo, Imscble, Vickiicky, Ginny Potter SilverForestPrincess, James And Lily 4eva, tails, mymagic, Kit49, Lost My Marbles, Lily Christie, Pline, Lily, Smarty Pants, CooCooMe, siriusforeva, jump-ball-girl **(I am really sorry for taking so long),** TheGoldenQuillEnquirer, Padfootz, banshee-kk, cHayE710, Leaping Cow, dawnarising, Nadine, Who Really Cares, Erotic Dreams, reagan-felton, azura, sealednectar, burtonesa **and **Cotokeet **for reviewing.

After reading all of your lovely reviews, I just felt so guilty for not being able to update for so long. So once again I do have to apologise to all you people out there! I never intended to take so long and I really did read every review that came my way.

Oh just one last thing. I read a few reviews where people told me that James Potter was a Chaser. However, in my opinion, according to the fifth book, James Potter was in fact a Seeker because why else would be nick a snitch to play around with?


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